A/N: Alright, I've sat on this long enough, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom

Proof

Danny walked through the hallways confidently, knowing exactly where he was going. In the beginning the enormous castle had been confusing, but no longer. He knew every corner. He was allowed to roam free through the entire house, but not outside. His father didn't trust him that far, after the stunt he had pulled two months earlier. The thought of it made him shudder for a moment. Not the escape, but what had followed after. He would not make that mistake again.

He entered the library and immediately walked to the side of the room with the occult books. He let his finger slide over the covers until he found the book he had been reading earlier and took it out. He had been making his way through his father's books, much to the billionaire´s pleasure. He was finally studying voluntarily. His tutor still taught him and Danny tried to do the best he could but he knew he would remain a disappointment in that area to his father. And whenever his father was disappointed...

Danny glanced apprehensively at the metallic wristbands that were forever there. They were tuned into his ectoplasmic signature, father had said, making them very effective restraints. He couldn't go ghost unless he allowed it. They could be used for other things as well, none of which Danny cared to think about. There was no way he could take them off. Or could he?

He opened the book to the place he had left of and started reading the passage again. He had found it two days ago and he had been mulling the possibilities the whole day yesterday. In fact, he had been so preoccupied Mr Carter had complained about it to his father.

He was returning to the subject only now, because he had been incapacitated the day before. He read:

Ectoplasm, signature. A substantial ghost is entirely made of ectoplasm, as opposed to non-substantial ghosts, which are composed of an aura of spectral energy. It is theorized that every substantial ghost has a unique 'signature', making them identifiable. Some research in this field has been performed at the university of Wisconsin, but it was stopped before satisfactory results could be gained. See "Ecto alterations, Experiments on semi-ectoplasm" by Madeline Hayes, 1987.

Danny flipped the page.

Ectoplasm, signature alterations. A highly speculative field of research, mostly performed in private laboratories. In theory, a ghost's ectoplasmic signature will change if the nature of the ghost changes. This would mean that an identified ghost needs to be re-identified from time to time (experts estimate once every decade).

He sat back and thought about it. Could he change his ectoplasmic signature to remove the wristbands? Could he change his nature? He shivered. He was already changing.

Danny slowly got up from his bed and made his way to his closet. He put on one of his old pair of jeans and a blue long sleeved shirt that conveniently covered his arms and the wristbands he was always wearing. He looked in the mirror, expecting his familiar goofy face. He looked at an older person with a pale, thin face and cold blue eyes. He shook his head and tried a friendlier expression.

He heard voices downstairs and decided to go down and meet them. He was hungry too, he discovered to his surprise. Well, he hadn´t eaten in days. He started to walk to the door and was down on his knees instantly. Fighting off the nausea and clutching his stomach he made himself sit on the floor.

"Not so fast, Fenton," he muttered to himself.

Maddie was talking to Sam and Tucker who had just entered, when she heard a faint noise at the top of the stairs. She looked up and to her surprise she saw Danny, fully dressed, slowly making his way down, desperately holding on to the railing.

"Danny!" she exclaimed, "What are you doing up!"

"Relax, mo..Maddie," he answered, "I´m just hungry."

She rushed up to him and caught his arm when he reached the bottom of the stairs. He leaned on her and she brought him to the couch. He let himself sink into it.

"OK," he muttered, "Maybe this was a bit too much."

Maddie smiled at her stubborn son. "I´ll get you some soup," she said.

When she returned, Jack and Jazz had joined Tucker and Sam in their examination of Danny. She handed Danny the soup, which he ate as quickly as he possibly could and returned the empty bowl to her with hopeful eyes.

"Puppy dog eyes," she heard Sam mutter and hope flooded through her. Was Sam remembering something?

Jack cleared his throat.

"Um, Danny, right?" Danny nodded, looking at him expectantly. "I´ve seen you before. Aren´t you Daniel Masters?"

Danny sat very still at that, his face even paler than it was before. Jack turned to his wife.

"A week or two after you were... in the hospital. Vlad came by and he had his son with him. That´s him." He turned back to Danny. "What happened? Your house was destroyed, your father missing...?"

"Danny?" Maddie asked.

The black limousine pulled up in front of the familiar house with the huge sign reading "Fenton Works". This was his home, he had come home. Vlad opened the door and turned to him.

"Coming?" he said.

"Yes father," Danny replied sullenly. The door opened and his father ran out.

"Vladdie," he boomed and captured Vlad in a bear hug. A wild hope surged through Danny. Then his father turned to him. "And who is this then?"

Vlad smiled. "This is my son, Daniel."

They entered the house, following Jack Fenton into the living room. Vlad held a tight grip on Danny´s left shoulder, making sure he wouldn´t make any sudden moves.

"Jack, my friend," Vlad said pleasantly, "Where is Maddie?"

Jack´s face saddened for a moment but quickly regained his normal, cheerful outlook. "She´s... visiting her sister, yes. She´ll be back eh... later this week."

Danny felt Vlad´s disappointment through the sudden tightening of his grip.

They all looked at him, astonished.

"You´re the son of Vlad Masters, the billionaire?" Sam asked, "Why did you run away? Did you have something to do with your father's disappearance? Why didn't you just take some money with you, you didn´t need to steal, you´re loaded! "

Danny looked away from them. He was back to square one, they didn´t trust him. Even his mother looked shocked at Sam´s words. Well, it wasn´t nice to hear your son was a thief, he supposed. Suddenly his efforts seemed pointless. What was he doing here? It would never work, they didn´t remember him and his story was so unlikely that he couldn´t blame them either. Unless... he could prove something. He straightened, leaning forward a little, his eyes flashing green for a moment.

"My name," he said, "is Danny Fenton. And I´ll prove it."

Danny slowly got up from the couch and made his way to the stairs to the basement. His family didn´t move and he turned.

"Coming?" he said.

They got up as one and his mother quickly grabbed his arm as he moved down the stairs.

Once in the lab, Danny turned to face his family and his friends.

"Dad... Jack," he said to his father, "The Fenton portal. It is closed with a genetic lock."

"That´s right," his father answered, "How do you know that?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "Tucker, would you try and open the portal?" he said, gesturing at the device.

Tucker looked at Jack, who shrugged. He approached the lock and pressed the red button with his thumb. Nothing happened, and Danny smiled.

"OK," he said, "Now watch this."

As he said that, he placed his finger on the button. The portal opened. They all stared at him in awe, except for his mother who smiled at him brightly.

"Fenton DNA," Danny simply said, as he moved to close the door again.

At that moment his ghost sense went off and at the same time something came through the portal.

"GHOST," Jack yelled, but before he could move the giant squid was hit by a powerful ecto beam, blasting him straight back into the ghost zone. The doors closed. They turned to Danny, who was holding an ecto gun, pointing it straight at Jack.

"You can´t make me do this! I won´t do it!" Danny yelled at Vlad.

The billionaire looked at him angrily.

"I can and I will," he said, "You have nowhere to go, Daniel, you are MY son now and you Will. Obey. Me."

At that, he pressed the red button on the remote he was holding. Danny went down on the floor, reverting to his human form, writhing in pain.

Vlad pressed the button again and Danny laid there quietly, panting. He stepped closer and bend over the boy, bringing his face close to his.

"We´ll start again," he said, stroking the boy´s hair, looking almost sad.

Danny got to his feet and searched Vlad´s face, waiting for an approval. As he nodded, Danny shifted to his ghost form again and hovered, searching the room with the steel paneled walls. Again the targets popped up and again he started blasting them. They were just shapes, shadows of people.

Then one of the targets that popped up had Vlad´s face on it. Danny held back the ecto blast with some difficulty and targeted another instead. Vlad did not like it when he was hit, even if only in a picture. Then his mother was there and he had no trouble holding back on that one.

And then, again, the image of his father popped up. Danny felt the rage build inside of him. Vlad wanted him to blast his father, but he would never do that. He blasted the image of Vlad instead and turned to his enemy to look at him defiantly.

Then he was down on the floor again, and this time the painful shocks seemed to go on forever. When it stopped he just laid there, crying. Another jolt went through him.

"Stop crying," Vlad said, "You´re pathetic."

A silence came over the lab as they watched the boy glaring at his father. Then a confused look came over him and he slowly lowered the gun and carefully placed it on the desk. Maddie walked up to him, took his arm and led him out of the lab. Just before ascending the stairs she looked back at the gun on the desk. How had he fired an unloaded gun?