Unfortunate Circumstances Chapter 3: Training, Questions, and Voices, a danny phantom fanfic

Thank you everyone who reviewed! I appreciate all of them! I would also like to thank all the people who asked me if I was alright. I love you guys! Yep, last chapter was Greek. The same rules from the last chapter apply in this one, too, so I will basically be blackmailing you for the rest of the story. :D Aren't I awesome?

Vlad muse: No...

That was rhetorical. read and review!

Chapter 3

Focus! He told himself sternly. He couldn't afford to get distracted during the skirmishes that he and Vlad had been having daily. After lunch that day, him and Vlad were on much better terms. They had started training just two weeks ago, and Danny's ghost powers were definitely showing improvement. He had especially been honing his duplication skills, as four Danny's were hardly enough if he ever had to face a very powerful foe. You know... Like Pariah Dark. No, I faced him. Vortex? Nope. Freakshow? Nada. Okay, how about Dark Danny?

Danny paused for a moment, unintentionally giving Vlad an open shot that the man did not hesitate to take.

"Tut tut, Daniel. I expected a bigger fight. Is something wrong?" Danny looked up at his face, wincing minutely at the mans worried frown.

"I'm fine, Vlad. Don't worry about it. Ready to restart?" Vlad searched his gaze for some sign that he was hiding something before sighing, aggravated.

"I suppose." As the man said that, he shot the ectoblast that he had been charging up behind his back.

"Gah! Hey, no fair!" Danny barely dodged the shot, and he growled as he ran face-first into the wall.

"Daniel, since when have I fought fair?"

"Point taken, fruitloop." Well, then neither do I. He smirked mockingly as he took a deep breath. After waiting a moment, he released his Ghostly Wail. Since his eyes were closed in concentration, he couldn't see the solid granite walls shaking, nor did he see a very shocked Plasmius being thrown across the room. A loud crash broke his concentration and he collapsed on the ground, shaking. When he managed to get his eyes to open, he saw a strangely Plamius-shaped hole in the wall. Or, what remained of the wall. Oops...

He brought his hands up to his mouth nervously. "Hey, sorry Vlad! You okay?"

A dust-covered figure rose out of the rubble about twenty meters away, groaning in pain. Danny crept over to him cautiously, chewing on his bottom lip. When he was a few feet away, Vlad looked up at him with a strange look in his eyes. Anger? Frustration? No... It's more like... Awe? He was snapped out of his thoughts as the older man spoke.

"What... What was that? I've never seen anything like it!" Vlad sounded extremely excited for someone who had just gotten smashed into- no, through a wall. He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck shyly.

"My Ghostly Wail?" Vlad pulled his top and bottom lips into his mouth disbelievingly (A/N: If you have never tried this expression, go in front of a mirror and give it a shot!).

"You have a super powerful ghost power that no one has ever heard of, and you decide to call it your Ghostly Wail?" His voice was filled with shock and incredulity at the idea. Danny decided to explain. There was a wry smile on his face as he replied.

"Actually, It was my evil twenty-four-year-old self from the future who named it." He couldn't help but laugh at Vlad's should-I-call-an-asylum-or-is-he-telling-the-truth expression. "It's a long story." He explained laughingly.

"Warum nicht." Vlad sighed, throwing his hands in the air. Danny laughed, hoping that he hadn't just been insulted.

"You're the one who's going to be explaining this to my gardeners, by the way." Vlad remarked, angling his head towards the pile of rubble. Danny froze mid-laugh.

"Wait, what?"

Once the groundskeeper had finished attempting to strangle the halfa, the two of them had gone inside for lunch. Vlad kept glancing over at Danny's flushed face and chuckling to himself, earning a glare from the boy. After a few minutes of eating in silence- well, as close as you can get to silence with Vlad chuckling every five seconds- Vlad decided to voice the question that had been on his mind the past few weeks.

"Daniel, what happened the night that you came to my house? Why didn't you go to Mister Foley's or Miss Manson's?" His frown deepened as Danny glanced away, his face shadowed by guilt and anger. His mouth opened slightly, like he was going to speak, but he slowly closed it and chewed on his bottom lip nervously. "Daniel?" I searched his gaze for some sign that he was going to reply. When his mouth opened again finally, it was not for the words I needed to hear.

"Hey, Vlad, I feel kind of tired. I'll be going to bed now, okay? Night." Before I could respond, he slid out of his seat and dashed out the door. I closed my mouth, cutting off any reply I should have made, as the doors thudded shut. Even with my enhanced ghost hearing, I could barely hear his footsteps smacking against the marmoreal stairs.

I sighed dejectedly. Every time I tried to ask him, he would either change the subject or run away. I could tell from the way his eyes would never meet mine that it was a painful memory, but that made it all the more important that he talk to me! Whatever had happened, he needs to get it off his chest in order for him to be able to move on.

I suppose that he needs some time to adjust, some time for him to get to trust me. I can wait.

As I raced up to my room, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt. Vlad just wanted to help me, to understand what I was going through. Vlad was all I had left, and I shouldn't push him away like that.

Why didn't I trust him? After all he had done for me the past few weeks, he deserved to at least know why I couldn't go to Tucker's or Sam's. It was just that... It was just that if I told anyone else, it would make it more official. It was as if me being the only one knowing didn't make it real. I sighed as I remembered a phrase from one of my favorite songs;

...You run, afraid of what you feel,
But you can't tell the ones you love, you know they couldn't deal.
You whisper in a dead man's ear,
It doesn't make it real...

I had never understood what that verse meant until now. Now, it described exactly how I felt, how I lived. I felt a solitary tear roll down my jawline. I bit down on my lip to stop the tears. Hard. I knew that Vlad would come to check on me soon.

Speaking of which, where was I? During my thinking, I had kept sprinting until I was deeper in the mansion than I had ever been before. An oriental rug was splayed down the hallway, with mahogany floorboards and a creamy color of paint on the walls. A crystal chandelier was hanging from the ceiling, casting a calming white light throughout the corridor.

Great, I'm lost. He sighed before turning around and backtracking. Okay, as long as I stay down this hallway, I should end up back where I started out. This logic worked perfectly until he got to a fork. One hallway kept going straight, while the other one lead somewhere over to the right. He chose to go straight. He jogged forward, and passed by a bunch of other hallways. He closed his eyes and depended on his gut instinct, and tried to remember which way he went.

Left, left, right, left, right, right... The mansion seemed to go on forever, and Danny soon found himself to be even more lost than he had been before. He sighed as he hit the third wall, or maybe he was going in circles and it was the same one all three times.

Goddamit! This place is like a freaking labyrinth! There are way too many dead ends... Then it hit him. Dead ends, duh. "Goin' Ghost!" He shouted, feeling the familiar white rings pass over his body. "Ghost powers, gotta love 'em." Turning his body intangible, he floated up through the ceiling, through another ceiling... Finally, he got to the roof. He couldn't hold in a whistle at the miniature observatory that was up here. How he had never noticed a giant dome on top of the mansion, the world may never know.

As he floated around, he saw at least six telescopes, flat maps covering every square inch of wall that showed the entire known galaxy, a bunch of machines that he could only guess the operation of, and in the middle of it all, a big three-dimensional orb that contained a miniature Milky Way galaxy. I have to bring Vlad up here during the meteor shower in a few months! Until then, he decided to float down to the front steps of the mansion.

As he phased through the front doors quietly, he heard a small yet pronounced cough behind him. He froze, turning around to face an amused Vlad. He swallowed, trying to wet his dry throat as he thought of something to say. Fortunately -or unfortunately, depending on how you viewed it- Vlad broke the silence.

"Did you get lost, little badger? Or were you merely attempting to make sure the door worked?" Danny sighed and ran his fingers through his hair in chagrin. He glanced up at his da- Vlad's face to see a smirk upon his features. He groaned and stomped past the older man, trying to forget the slip-up.

"I... might have gone a bit too far. I also wanted to apologize for leaving the room so abruptly earlier. I was a tad upset, and I acted extremely rude. I-" At the look on Vlad's face he paused and thought over what he had said. When he realized how he was speaking, he sighed and flopped his head down onto his chest.

"Geez, Vlad, you must be rubbing off on me. Let me rephrase that; I'm sorry I ran out like that. I was upset and a little scared, and I acted really rudely. Better?" Vlad chuckled softly.

"There's the Daniel I know. There's no need to apologize, my boy. It was a personal question. If anything, I should be the one apologizing to you." There was a ghost of a smile on Danny's face- pardon the pun- as he kept his head bent down and walked over to the older man.

"Vlad, you have every right to know the answer to your questions. Just... not now, okay? I need-" Vlad cut him off.

"Some time to think things over? Take all the time you need. But, before you go upstairs, could you answer just one question?" Danny nodded, curious at what he would want to know.

"Why did you come to me? I'm your archenemy! Why would trust me to take care of you in your time of need?"

There was a moment of silence where nobody spoke before Daniel answered.

"Because I knew that you of all people would understand, you wouldn't cast me out when you found out what happened. Sam and Tuck... they wouldn't get it. They don't understand me, my powers, my emotions... To them, I'm a hero. I'm not allowed to get angry or make mistakes. If they cause a ghost to gain power, I have to forgive and forget. If they turn evil and attack people, I have to avoid hurting them. But if I so much as lose a fight, or cause a pedestrian to get hurt, or get revenge, they yell at me, tell me to do better... They don't get that I have emotions too, that I need an outlet for my anger. I have to act the hero, hold in my aggression, and have to deal with the consequences when I explode from not releasing any. They just-!" His voice kept rising in volume, until he ended up screaming out in fury. He knew that Daniel felt his eyes flash, but apparently the boy didn't notice that the color changed from cerulean to crimson, instead of emerald. Vlad, however, did notice this change. He was about to say something about it, when Danny sighed.

"I'm sorry... I don't know where that came from. That was a bit of a Jazz-type rant, wasn't it?" Danny laughed weakly, trying not to show how startled he was. Key word: trying. Vlad decided to let it drop for now, and stored it in the back of his mind for future reference. He couldn't help but be shocked at what his answer was. Because I knew you would understand, you wouldn't cast me out when you found out the truth. But what was the truth? The Amity News was surprising, but he doubted that that was the whole story. He doubted that he was going to get much more conversation out of the boy tonight, though, because the child looked dead on his feet. No pun intended, of course.

"Daniel... Go get some rest. Perhaps you'll feel better in the morning. Besides, you did say you were going to bed earlier, before you 'went too far', as you so eloquently stated it." A sheepish grin spread across Danny's features as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet incessantly. All of a sudden, shock and realization passed across his features for such a small amount of time Vlad almost missed it.

"Yeah, I'll do that. Good idea." Danny backed out of the room carefully, tripping over his heels occasionally on the way. He fumbled with the door a minute before he found the handle, and spun around as the door opened, stumbling with the lack of solid material to lean on. Vlad suppressed a chuckle at the boy's awkwardness as the door thudded softly shut behind him. What on Earth caused that? He wondered, running possibilities through his head. Some things are better left unsaid, He decided after a few moments.

Danny took a minute to think about his response. When he did, it was as if there was a little voice in his head reading the words to him.

There, don't you feel better now that you've let out all that anger?

Danny sighed. He really should apologize for exploding like that. It had felt good, but...

But nothing. You enjoyed letting your anger consume you, just admit it. Combine that with what you did to your loved ones... You're no better than your future self.

"I'm sorry... I don't know where that came from. That was a bit of a Jazz-type rant, wasn't it?" He laughed nervously, trying to drown out the voice. Sadly, to no avail, for the voice just got louder. He couldn't help the feeling that he'd heard the voice before, though.

All that blood, and the screams... You loved it.

He could faintly hear Vlad saying something, as if from a long distance. He was kind of preoccupied, though, so he didn't notice at first. It wasn't until Vlad stopped talking that he realized that he had been speaking. Crap! What did he say! He didn't want to seem like he hadn't been paying attention...

He told you to go get some sleep. Thank him for the suggestion and agree.

"Yeah, I'll do that. Good idea." He stuttered out his response hurriedly, hoping that Vlad didn't notice anything. He backed away, fumbling for the door handle, and tumbled out of the room. He raced up the stairs, cursing at himself for being so clumsy. As he ascended the stairs, he went back to his mental conversation.

Thanks for the save back there. I don't like Vlad trying to figure me out.

That makes two of us. Well, I guess one if you want to be literal. No problem. It was my fault you weren't paying attention to begin with.

What's with the sudden personality change? You started out all evilish, and now you're helpful?

Even though I'm pretty sure 'evilish' isn't a word... I might just be pretending to be helpful to gain your trust, or I might just be an aspect of your imagination that changes to however you need me.

And how does calling me evil benefit me?

If no one challenged you acting like you did, you wouldn't feel as guilty, and the odds of you acting like that again would increase.

Danny raised an eyebrow and slid open the door to his room. Good logic.

I know.

Cocky, much?

Just as much as you are.

Danny laughed, surprised.

Point taken. Truce?

For now.

A/N: I'm sorry for the long wait, people. I had a mixture of writers block, school test prep, soccer (I am a rocking keep!), my little brother deleting my entire chapter, and switching to each of my parents' houses.

I'm also going to have you guys guess what Vlad said... I know it was just one sentence, but it should be enough for you guys to guess; It usually is. Next chapter will take nowhere near as long as this one did, thankfully. I hate tormenting you guys. Till next time!

PS: I recently made a Deviantart account! My username is: i-am-not-a-fruitloop

It was originally going to be Vlad-is-a-creepy-fruitloop-who-needs-a-cat, but it was too long. XD