Sorry to keep everybody waiting and im going to give you my reasons for me taking so long.

1. My neighborhood was struck by a tornado but no one was hurt, thankfully.

2. School had been slowly trying to kill me but I finally got through it and graduated

3. It took me a while to get back into writing.

Thank you again Beta for all you have done.

I don't own Danny Phantom or the Teen Titans.

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Chapter 5

That night and the following morning, Danny was lost in thought over his actions at and before the prom. His thoughts kept turning to Raven, the dark sorceress who he had danced with and caused within his heart feelings close to happiness. Yet when his feelings started to swell with joy, a twinge of guilt would show its ugly face. Considering that he may be developing a crush on her, that would probably explain the happiness in his heart. But the guilt, well... I don't deserve love. I already failed the ones I held dear once and I'm not going to make that same mistake again. That's why I'm not a hero... oh crap. Realization hit Danny his memory of more recent events kicked in and he quickly finished his breakfast and headed for the door. I hope they haven't put me in the newspaper yet.

Rushing over to the school, he found the football coach and the Principal supervising the repairs being made to the school. After much discussion and a good deal of convincing, he finally got them to not make a big thing out of him saving his friends the other day. Both the coach and principal were very perplexed by his reluctance of fame, but they didn't push the issue any further. Danny was just glad that they listened.

The previous night, Raven had attempted to get answers from her emotions over what had happened at the prom, but they were all being stubborn. Even Knowledge, her most trusted emotion, only told her that she would have to wait until the future presented itself. Happiness was the only one to say anything significant and yet that was only that she couldn't wait to see Danny again. So, after a failed attempt at meditating, she tried to get some sleep. Yet even then, it was only after an hour of tossing and turning, she fell into an uneasy slumber.

On this particular morning, she woke up an hour later than usual. This only contributed to her developing bad mood from the night of her failed discussion with her emotions. She walked into the kitchen to find the rest of the Titans sitting at the table talking. Upon noticing her entrance they all fell silent and turned to look at her, smiling.

Starfire floated over to Raven and pulled her into one of her famous bone crushing hugs. "Oh joyous day friend Raven, you found yourself a friend of the boy."

"Wh..at?..." Was all Raven could get out as she tried to gasp for air.

Releasing Raven from her mighty death hug, Starfire beamed with excitement. "You and friend Danny are doing the dating."

"Star.. fire where... did you.. get that idea.. from?" Raven asked as she tried to catch her breath.

"Oh, Beastboy and Cyborg, who saw the two of you dancing, were explaining the details to me and Robin."

Trying to keep a straight face, Robin asked, "So Raven, are you going to tell us about your boyfriend and if he'll be hanging out here at the tower?"

After giving a death glare to Beastboy and Cyborg, Raven turned away and frowned at Robin. After a moment, her frown turned into a smile as a thought occurred to her. "What about you and Starfire? Have you two started dating yet?" Robin flushed and suddenly found an interesting spot on the table to study while he mumbled incoherent words. Starfire looked at the floor, feeling a little hurt until Raven started whispering to her. "Just because I danced with a guy once, doesn't mean I'm going out with him. And don't worry so much, Robin likes you, he just has trouble expressing it." Starfire's cheerfulness returned at her words and nodded to show her understanding.

Raven turned back to the table to find a missing Beastboy and Cyborg. They are going on a trip to another dimension the next time they show their faces.

2323--

After his tiring conversation with his Principal and the coach, Danny went to work. While sitting behind the register lost in thought, his friend Ben approached him grinning from ear to ear.

"Danny... you hypocrite." Ben said, his grin never faltering.

"What?"

"I saw you and Raven dancing."

"I thought that you had left."

"I went back on the ship to get my coat that I had left behind. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but what were you saying about me and Matt trying to get a date out of our league?" Danny's face flushed in embarrassment as he tried to come up with an answer.

"All I did was dance with her, I'm not trying to go out with her."

"Sure, and that's why you couldn't keep your eyes off her." If Danny's face could get any redder, it would have exploded.

"So I'm guessing that you already told Matt?"

Ben shook his head, frowning. "I tried to get a hold of the idiot earlier, but he wasn't answering his phone and I tried to find him online but he wasn't there either. The funny thing is, I can never get a hold of him and he says that he's always online, but his character has been the same level for a long time."

"He's probably started a new account online."

"Maybe, but I've noticed lately that he's been acting stranger than usual. For example, last night when the spider guy attacked, Matt said that he was heading home right after the cruise. For some reason he seemed really excited as he ran off. I couldn't find him after that."

"Well at least I don't have to hear about the dance from him today. By the way, I managed to convince the principal and coach to not make a big deal over me saving you two from that 80's European reject the other day." Danny told his friend, looking relieved.

"It still made it into today's newspaper." Ben pulled out a newspaper and handed it to him.

Danny studied the article; 'Boy Saves Friends While School Is Attacked' and was about to hand it back when he noticed the date at the top and froze in shock. I can't believe it is only two days from that day.

"Danny, are you okay?" Ben asked, looking concerned for his friend.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Isn't this week our spring break?"

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Monday and Tuesday I'm planning on taking a trip back to my home town." Before Ben could ask more on the subject, Cyborg and Beastboy walked in grinning from ear to ear. Looking over, Danny greeted them. "Hey guys, why didn't you call before you came? Right now we've got... Why are you guys grinning like that?"

"You were the one dancing with Raven last night. Did you think we were going to forget that?" Cyborg said, his grin turning slightly evil.

"I kinda hoped that you would." Danny replied, his shoulders slumping.

"No such luck Danny." Beastboy said in a sing song voice before laughing out loud.

"Now... down to business. Since me and Beastboy here have the roles of being brothers to our little Raven... By the way, I'm the older overprotective one while he is the younger annoying brother."

Beastboy huffed. "I'm so not annoying."

Looking down at him, Cyborg responded, "Yes you are. Anyways, I'm going to warn you that since you're dating our little Raven..."

"Wait. I'm not dating Raven, all we did was dance."

"Okay, when you start dating her, you better not hurt her, I may be a hero, but that still won't stop me from kicking your butt if you ever..." Cyborg trailed off as he heard a collective squeal coming from a neighboring room. Danny now was the one with an evil smile on his face, and he pulled it off a lot better.

"As I was trying to tell you earlier, you should have called because your fan club was coming here today." Cyborg rapidly turned white as he grabbed Beastboy and ran out of the café, closely followed by many fangirls.

"You my friend, are very evil." Ben said trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, but they did get what they deserved."

That evening, after they returned from their run only to deal with the wrath of an irate Raven, Beastboy and Cyborg finally stopped talking about her dance with Danny. Relieved, Raven sat on the roof meditating, chanting her mantra as the sun went down and trying to get her powers under control after the day that she had.

As for the other titans, they were nearby playing volleyball, with Beastboy and Robin playing against Starfire and Cyborg. The game was going rather smoothly until Beastboy got a little carried away. Taking the form of an ape he spiked the ball, accidentally hitting it straight for Raven. "Raven heads up!!"

The ball was engulfed in black energy and stopped mere inches from Raven's head. With a slight push of her mind, she sent it straight back to Beastboy, slamming it into his stomach, making him fall flat on his back. "Are you sure you don't want to play Raven?" asked a wide eyed Robin.

"Yes, please, you must volley the ball with us." Starfire said enthusiastically, jumping up and down.

"Come on, I'll play you with one hand behind my back." Cyborg said as he pulled off one of his arms and waving it in the air before reattaching it.

"I can't, I have to meditate." Raven replied as she tried to calm her emotions.

The rest of the Titans shrugged and went back to their game. But once again Beastboy screwed up by going ape to serve the ball and just as before, the ball headed straight towards Raven. "Heads up again!!" This time, Raven floated out of the way and as expected, the volley ball went over the side of the tower, plummeting down to the ocean below. "I'll get it." Beastboy said heading for the edge of the roof. Yet before he got too far, the volley ball landed right in front of him, soon followed by a blonde haired girl. She wore yellow shorts, a black t-shirt with a yellow T on it and stood on top of a floating boulder. "Terra?" Beastboy asked, not believing his eyes.

Terra simply smiled. "So, which team am I on?"

Danny walked into his apartment spotting an expected visitor sitting comfortably at his kitchen table, drinking a cup of tea. "Good evening Daniel, I hope you didn't mind me drinking some of your tea. I saw that you had a new flavor and thought of trying it."

"Oh, that. I picked it up the other week when I was at my favorite bookstore." Danny said as he poured himself a cup. "I'm guessing you heard about me rescuing my friends from that attack at my school yesterday."

"Yes, and I suppose you're also the one who stopped the attacker since the Titans claimed that they did not."

"Yeah, I stopped him." Danny said turning to stare out of his window, watching the setting sun.

"So you really are going back to being a hero."

"I don't know. Every time that I see somebody hurting others I want to stop them, but I also don't want to end up hurting the people around me again." Danny fought back tears as memories of his former life with friends and family flew through his mind.

"Well if you're not going to be a hero again, at least you're dating one." It took Danny a second before he realized what Vlad had said.

"What?!" He turned to find Vlad casually reading a tabloid with a picture of him and Raven dancing on the front with Robin and Starfire dancing in the background. The only redeeming feature was the fact that the heading mentioned the Titan coupling with an unknown.

"It says right here that you and the Raven of the Teen Titans are going out, and judging by the picture it does look like it." Danny turned a little red.

"I'm not going out with her, we just danced. Anyways, I thought you were smart enough not to believe in the tabloids." Vlad just laughed and put the tabloid down.

"Daniel, I came here today to propose an offer I made to you a long time ago. However, this time it will be a little different than from back then. If you want, I am willing to teach you a little more about your powers and you may use them as you wish. I will not try to force you to do anything you don't want to do."

Danny thought for a moment before smiling. "Yeah, I guess I could use the training." And besides, it is a good way to get my mind off the previous day's events.

"Good, now I have a place in mind where we can train..." A tremor went through the room, similar to an earthquake. With everything shaking for a brief second, it caught both Danny and Vlad by surprise. "Oh butter biscuit!" Vlad yelled as he spilt hot tea on his hand.

That night was once again hard for Raven to fall asleep and meditate. This time it was Terra's arrival that had her mind working very hard and a few of her emotions going crazy. She was glad that they had another teammate, yet she still couldn't shake a strange feeling of dark foreboding.

Terra had helped save the tower that night from Slade's giant drills and that action had gained a little of Raven's trust. However, Raven couldn't help but find it suspicious that right after her arrival, Slade would choose then to attack. Maybe it was a coincidence, but her instincts were telling her otherwise.

Yet on the other hand, the rest of the Titans were really trusting of Terra, with Beastboy following her like some lovesick puppy. I hope the others know what they're doing. I don't want my feelings to be right. After that thought Raven finally fell into a restless sleep.

Robin said, everybody deserves second chances...

The next morning Danny went off to work, feeling exhausted from the previous night of training. He had been very skeptical at first about getting training from Vlad, but he did learn how to control his powers a little bit better and was happier for that.

At work, Danny's coworkers had talked about how the Titans fought a giant drilling machine and speculated on the identity of the new blonde haired girl who helped them in their battle. When he and Vlad had felt the tremor, they had just assumed it was one of the earthquakes California was famous for, not a giant drilling machine.

Not long after the finished the tale of the Titan's fight last night, Danny got a phone call from Robin about their soon arrival. Maybe I'll get to see Raven today. Thoughts of dancing with the dark titan filled his head. He remembered how her amethyst eyes shined and the pretty face she always kept hidden under her hood.

"Danny? ... Danny?" Danny exited his inner thoughts to find the actual Raven standing right in front of him, causing him to nearly jump. "I thought you had fallen asleep."

"Oh sorry, I was just kinda lost in thought." Danny said sheepishly. "It is good to see you again Raven." Danny looked around for a second. "Where's the rest of titans?"

"They're outside introducing our new teammate, Terra, to a couple of our fans outside." Raven said as she drunk some recently purchased tea.

"So Terra's the girl who helped you guys with the giant drill yesterday?"

"Yes, she helped us stop the drills from putting our tower underground." The rest of the titans walked in. Terra walked in between Starfire and Beastboy, who were happily talking her ears off, followed by Robin and Cyborg.

Cyborg approached Danny and Raven while the rest went on to browse. "Hey Danny, you ask our little Raven out yet?" The glares he received from both of them caused him to change subjects quickly. "So uh... Danny did you get my order in yet?"

Lightening the glare, Danny thought for a moment. "I think so, let me check." Danny shifted through some of the orders and pulled out a small box. " Here you go, the rare limited edition card you ordered."

Cyborg took the card gleefully and stowed it in a compartment in his leg. Raven and Danny just shrugged at Cyborg's actions. "Danny, are you on spring break for school yet?" Raven's question caught Danny by surprise and it took him a second to answer.

"Yeah, it starts tomorrow. Tonight I'll be leaving Jump for two days."

"What, you going to go partying Danny?" Cyborg asked excitedly.

"No, I'm going back to my old home town." Danny replied solemnly. Raven was hit hard by the extremely sad emotion coming off of Danny, similar to if he started yelling at her. The somber mood that had suddenly fallen between the three teens was immediately interrupted by Beastboy and Starfire bounding forward, pulling a dazed Terra between them quickly followed by Robin, trying to stay the serious leader.

"Hey Danny meet Terra, our newest member. Terra meet Danny, one of the coolest guys in this joint." Beastboy said excitedly.

Terra gathered her bearings and when she focused on Danny she looked surprised, yet it was quickly replaced by a smile. For some reason, her smile sent a shiver down his spine. There was something about her that was giving him a bad feeling, but he didn't know why. After a moment's hesitation, he returned the smile. "It's good to meet you Terra and if you don't mind, may I ask you what your powers are?"

"My power is manipulation of rock and earth, like a geomancer." Terra pulled out a rock, surrounding it with her yellow aura, causing it and her hands and eyes to glow. The rock floated around the air for a moment and then, with a pulse of her power, she caused it to break into many pebbles, doing tricks in the air with them. Danny and the rest of her audience just watched in awe until she reformed it back into a rock. Clapping their hands, everybody but Raven applauded at her show. Smiling shyly, Terra looked around for a second before whispering to Danny. "Where's your bathroom?"

"Down that hall over there by the magazines and on the right, you can't miss it." Danny replied pointing towards said magazine racks.

"Thanks."

Once in the bathroom, Terra made sure it was completely void of occupants before sealing the door shut with the same rock she had used to do the tricks from before. Pulling out her cell phone she quickly dialed a number she memorized by heart and after a few rings she heard a metallic voice speak. "Identify yourself."

"Terra, rank Apprentice."

"Confirming Identification... Identification confirmed, hello Terra."

The metallic voice was soon replaced by a dark smooth voice "Apprentice, what information do you have for me?"

"I have found him sir, I believe I have found the white haired boy. All his physical stats match. Only the coloring is off."

"Do the Titans know of him?"

"No, I do not believe so. The titans only know of him as a normal teenager. As far as I'm aware, they know nothing of his powers but he is... friends with them."

"Good work my apprentice, now continue on with your mission."

"Yes Master..."

That night, Danny had packed a small gym bag with a change of clothes, some snacks and a few other assorted items. He made sure his apartment was completely secure before going into his ghost form and phasing through the ceiling. Staring out across the city towards the bay for a second, he heaved a sigh before turning invisible and started his flight over the city and to the north. Once above a rural area outside the city he became visible again to conserve energy.

Thinking back on it, he almost never returned to Amity Park. The only time he returned was on the anniversary of the death of his family and friends in order to pay his respects. He flew the whole night with his mind weighed down with many thoughts and different emotions.

As the sun dawned on the new day he saw the sign for Amity Park pass below him. Slowing down, he thought to himself. I must be getting faster because Im quite sure last year it took me till noon to get here.

His first stop was his old home to check on its condition. Looking around, he found the place to be in the same condition it was the year before, but obviously with a little more dust.

Amity Park was usually a very bustling place all year long. The only time it was relatively peaceful was on the anniversary of Nasty Burger explosion. On that date, most people would usually stay at home or go and pay their respects at the victims of the explosion's graves. Did I mention only most people?

"Geek! Get back here!" As Danny walked towards the graveyard, a short skinny kid wearing glasses ran past him at full speed followed shortly after by Dash and his usual gang of football players. Dash slammed right into Danny as he tried to push him out of the way only to bounce off and fall back on his butt. Dash looked up at Danny, angry at his embarrassing state, but smiled when he realized just who it was he ran into. "Fenturd, it's been a long time. It's a good thing you returned just in time for me to humiliate you." As Dash spoke and got off the ground, both of the football players behind him cracked their knuckles.

"Dash, would you just leave me in peace?" Danny replied, bored that he had to deal yet again with this idiot after so long.

Dash just laughed and grabbed Danny by the shirt. Pulling him up to his face he growled, "Are you gonna make me Fentina? You look just as weak now as you did two years ago." Dash threw a punch at Danny's face, but what happened next was something his puny mind never expected.

Danny pulled free from his grip, ducked, punched him square in the gut, grabbed his still extended fist, and then threw him over his back. These fluid motions took Danny only a few seconds and as he turned back to Dash's thugs, he almost grinned at the look of amazement on their faces. "Now, are you both going to leave me in peace, or shall I continue?" Both thugs quickly nodded their heads in fear, still trying to come up with something to say. "Good. Then you might want to help Dash up off the ground." Danny turned and left as they did what he suggested. Dash merely leaned on their shoulders, groaning.

Danny wasn't happy that he beat up Dash, it may have felt satisfying for a moment, yet even after all the years he had put up with his bullying he still felt bad about it. Two years ago he would have been happy to beat up Dash, but to do it on this day of all days, he wasn't happy with what happened at all.

Standing at his family's graves, he placed a flower on his sister's headstone. "Jazz, it's been a year since I was last here..." Danny wiped at some of the tears that were forming in his eyes. "I miss you very much and could really use your help right now... Though if I'm right, you probably have your hands full, helping some depressed angels sort through their problems..."

Moving on to his parent's graves, he placed a flower on each. "Mom, Dad, I miss you guys very much and there isn't a day that goes by that I regret not telling you my secret..." Tears were now streaming down his face. Danny didn't bother to wipe them away. "It's my fault that you all are dead, I failed to keep my promise. Maybe if I hadn't kept my secret from you two in the first place, then this wouldn't have happened." Danny let himself breakdown for a minute and when he finally gathered himself, he moved on to the next grave.

At Tucker's grave he placed yet another flower on the headstone. "Hey Tucker, I miss you man. You were my best friend for a long time... Now I hate to make you jealous, but some of my friends now are actual super heroes. One of them is a beautiful alien that you would probably drool over if you were still here... I hope the angels don't beat you up to much when you use those lousy pickup lines of yours."

Danny finally placed a black flower on Sam's grave. "Sam, I miss you very much... I guess I'm not as 'clueless' as I used to be and now I realize that I had liked you as more than a friend. It is too bad that I now regret not realizing this sooner. Right now I'm thinking that I might be falling for another girl, one that I am sure that you would highly approve of. She is the Dark Titan, Raven, and she has about the same style as you do... I hope the angels aren't getting on your nerves and that you're allowed to wear black instead of white. I know you won't consider it heaven unless you are able to express your individuality."

Danny cast one final glance at all of their graves before finally whispering. "I should go now, no matter how much it hurts. Don't worry too much about me, I'll visit you guys next year." He then looked around for a second, enjoying the peaceful atmosphere, before going into his ghost form and flying away.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, now leave a review.