Author notes:

1)English is my second language. Forgive me for any mistake.

2)I don't own Danny Phantom.

3)I only own the plot for this AU and the eventual OCs

4)Thanks Truephan and writer-from-hell for your reviews. I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as well.

Vladmir had just said his final farewell to his beloved wife and remained with his child on his arms as he waited sitting next to his beloved wife. The child was receiving everything it needed to survive from his father's life energy.

The sorrow he was feeling was overwhelming. It even clouded his anger towards King Raymond He had just lost his wife and his child needed special care until it was able to fend for himself.

His glance changed back and forth from his child and wife. It was just yesterday that they were happy and having some fun and now she was dead and there was nothing he could do about it.

What would his family say? How could he live without Maddie? Would he be able to raise that child all by himself? Those were question he repeated over and over again in his mind.

A few hours passed by without him realizing. He felt so numb and he cradled Daniel as if own sanity depended on it. He didn't even notice when the door of the modest house was opened by his father.

James had just arrived from the party in the ghost king's castle along with his wife. He wore a formal white suit very similar to Vlad's, while his mother wore a elegant yellow dress with long sleeves and golden gloves.

They were quite happy. Actually, they had thought that the reason Vlad hadn't come back to the party was because he was having a more private moment with his wife.

The couple never imagined that the first thing they would face as soon as they got into the house was their son with a baby on his arms and Maddie, lying down with her eyes closed. And they all soaked in blood.

"Son…what…" James started not being able to actually finish it.

Christine covered her mouth in horror as she trembled. She was terrified, but then she cling on her husband also not sure of what to say.

Both parents stared at their son, who finally noticed their presence and raised his look from his son to them. It was obvious for the older ghosts that their son had been crying.

James's eyebrows creased in confusion and he questioned firmly this time: "Son, What happened. Who's this child? What happened to her highness?"

"Mother…Father…" Vlad said looking at both of them with great sorrow in his eyes. "I… couldn't protect…That bastard…he…he killed…he…ordered the murder of his own daughter!" Vlad said with his anger returning with the mere thought of that man.

"What?" the older ghosts said in union. Sure, they heard from the princess about the reputation her father, but what kind of parent would condemn their own child to death?

"I should have gone straight to Maddie…I shouldn't have gone to that blasted ball! I could have saved her!" Vlad said clenching his teeth while cursing himself.

His father slowly approached him and leaned down to check on the boy Vlad was holding. He finally noticed what his son was doing to the child. He was giving him some of his life energy. Then he looked back to Maddie and then back to the child and, even though he had a good hunch of what happened he asked anyway: "Son, is that our…grandchild?"

Vlad could nodded. "It was Maddie's idea…I could save our son, because of her…"

It still hurt him knowing that from now on he would never see his beloved smile, laugh, talk and change affection with him. It made him feel numb. He wished he could wake up of that nightmare at any second.

"Oh my poor child…" his mother managed to say putting herself together and approaching her son leaning to see her grandson, doing her best to not stare at the corpse of her daughter-in-law. He was quite a sight. Instantly her maternal instincts made her offer to her son, noticing how he was keeping the infant alive with his life energy. "Please, son. Let me do this for you."

He knew what she meant, but he shook his head and told her. "Thank you, my mother. But this is something I must do alone." He said not taking his look from his child.

Vlad's father sighed. He liked Maddie and she was already part of their family. He had accepted his son's decision to marry that human. Few were able to marry motivated by love at that time. Even ghosts held arranged marriages in their high society. His son had told him and his wife about Maddie's pregnancy. He had to admit he was really shocked to see his grandson on Vlad's arms. He couldn't even start to understand how much in pain his son was at that moment. At least he was glad that his grandson was alive and being taken care of.

James went to the door of his house, then turned to his son and said: "I'm going to see if priest Isaac is awake. We need to provide her a proper burial. She can be buried at our family side of the graveyard." He turned his wife and told her to stay there with their son and grandson, then he left the house

Vlad knew his father was doing a good thing for him allowing Maddie to be buried with their ancestors and considering her a member of their family, even though she was human. But his words about her funeral sounded so alien to him. It was like he had awaken from a bad dream to actually live his worst nightmare.

Christine was still in front of her son, on her knees when finally looked at Maddie and felt really sorry for her. She knew that being royalty had its downsides, but death just because she married someone she loved? Then she looked at her grandchild and wanted to rock the baby on her arms, but she knew he had to stay with Vlad 24/7 until he was strong enough to eat on his own. She decided to try make her son focus on something else to take his thoughts from his loved wife: "What's his name? Have you decided yet?"

Vlad looked at her and replied: "His name is Daniel. Maddie chose it before she…" he couldn't bring himself to even mention what happened to her anymore. No matter how much he tried to deny it, the reality always appeared to bite him where it hurt the most.

His mother cringed knowing that her plan wasn't working as she intended, but she continued to chat with her son, now just wanting to him to remain with his sanity: "That's a very good name…He is very peaceful. I've seen kids having a premature birth before and don't worry about it, he's going to be fine. You're doing a terrific job. You're a natural good father."

In any other time, Vlad would have blushed at that comment, but he simply made a 'humm' sound. He was question his own parenting skills. He knew he could count with his parents, but he was Daniel's father. He questioned himself if he could be a good father and be able to protect his son from the same fate that had fallen over his wife.

Vlad then told her what Maddie made him promise before she died. About not telling Daniel the truth about her death and her horrid father. He also added: "But I won't hide from him that his mother was human. He has no need to feel ashamed from it."

Christine nodded and said: "I agree with both of you. I also don't want to see my grandson misunderstand the situation. I've heard from my father, that many ghosts hated humans as general just because of the actions of few of them. I want Danny to be a good and strong boy in the future."

Vlad couldn't help but to smile a little bit at the nickname his mother gave to his child. He remained rocking his child fully knowing that tomorrow would be a another very sad day for him and his family.

On the next day, still early in the morning, Vlad was heading towards the cemetery still holding his son and giving him his life energy. James had waken up the priest that had celebrated his son's wedding, knowing that he had nothing against humans. The old, bald, green skinned ghost agreed to give Maddie a proper burial at the Plasmius' family plot.

He hadn't called any of his friends. The thought didn't actually crossed his mind at that time, besides he couldn't go too far with the newborn child and the only reason why he took him there was because he had to stay with Danny all the time and he didn't want to miss his wife's burial.

He had cleaned Danny up on that previous night with his mother and now Danny was wrapped on a baby blue blanket still sleeping profoundly feeling the warmth of his father's energy.

The only ones there were James, Christine, Vlad, these three wearing black clothes, Danny, the priest and, surprisingly, Eric as well. James had gone also to his oldest son abode and told him what happened. Fright Knight was wearing his usual black armor, but he was holding his helmet with his right hand. He looked a lot like his younger brother, but he had short black hair, like his father, he had green eyes and had no goatee.

They had provided Maddie a wood-made coffin for her. It may not be fit for someone of her status, but it served well for its purpose. The priest started his preach about her: "Madeline Irongrip, wife of Vladmir Plasmius, was a kind woman. She was a loved woman. She was different from most of the humans and didn't hate ghosts…"

He continued with his speech as the others listened with attention at the priest gave to Madeline. Christine cried a little bit during the burial, while Vlad and James had a very sad expression on their faces. Fright Knight had a blank expression, it was like he was there as if it was a mere formality for him.

But Danny was whining and it was at the verge of tears. It was like the small baby could understand what was going on around him. Vlad felt heartbroken as this thought crossed his mind. 'He's just a baby…he can't possibly understand any of this…'

After Maddie was buried, Vlad gave a good look at the gravestone.

Madeline Irongrip Plasmius

1483-1502

Princess of Amikeco Parko

Beloved wife and mother

When the ceremony ended, Fright Knight called his brother for a more private conversation. Vlad could only wonder what his brother had to say, but he quickly told him. "Please make it fast. Daniel can't be outside for too long. It might not be too healthy for him."

He had said that because he was aware that he and his older brother weren't exactly on good terms and he honestly didn't have patience to hear another speech of his about how he tainted ghosts' honor by marring a human female.

After a quite awkward silence, Eric spoke: "So…did you finally realize a human wife wouldn't be fit for you?" Fright knight said having to admit he was quite shocked to see the scene.

Vlad was furious by such comment. But he had to hold himself: "If I wasn't taking care of Daniel right now, I would make you pay for insinuating such a thing! I love her. I would never raise my finger to harm my own wife! It was her father who did such a thing."

After a few moments, Eric's eyes went wide as he realized what he had just implied. "I didn't mean like that. What I meant was, are you going to stop chasing human females and start to get a real wife for you?" he said in his defense.

Vlad clenched his teeth and he snarled at him: "I do not need another wife! I'll raise my son alone and nothing you say will change what I feel! I'm sick of you trying to control my life and say what I can and what I can't do!"

Eric shook his head and told his brother: "Do it your way then. Maybe it was better that she died. Our father told me why she was killed. It only happened to her because you married her in first place! If you truly loved her you would have kept a safe distance from her! And do you think all ghosts would have accepted such union? Even our king doesn't like humans too much. Your child could be considered an abomination. But hey, as you said, it's your choice." Then he left heading towards his horse placing his helmet back on.

Vlad hated himself for this, but he had to admit his brother's words had some truth in it. He had told everyone he knew about Maddie and he also almost made his marriage something notorious for everyone in the ghost kingdom. He started to doubt his choices, but he shook his head. It was no good to dwell in the past like that. He had a son who needed all his attention. Then he returned to his friends and family.

After Fright Knight mounted his winged horse and took off to his own home. "At least my nephew looks normal." He mumbled to himself.

Far away from there, at night, a silver ghost werewolf was walking into the depths of the Dead Forest. He wore a brown vest and black pants. He growled in frustration. He had been walking through hours trying to find his goal. He had accidentally found a book in his father's library. The book was about the many myths about the origin of ghosts.

Any other person would have thought it was just stories for kids, after all nobody really knew about their very own origin and few gave much thought into it. The werewolf always heard from his father that any story had a bit of truth inside of them. The book was fairly old and even his father didn't know about it. He only told his son that it should be some book left there before he was the librarian. This only rose his natural curiosity and he decided to read it and try discover if anything that was written there was truth. That's why he started to investigate everything written there.

The scarce sunlight was now completely gone and the moonlight wasn't nearly as strong to illuminate that place. He had a very good night vision, but it still troubled him a bit and he would eventually trip on a stone or two and his night vision was monochromatic.

"Argh! This is stupid. How am I supposed to find that wretched place with such darkness!" He said out loud after tripping once again.

He got up and was ready to go back home when he saw a glowing green orb floating next to him. He looked at it puzzled and the orb started to float deeper into the forest.

Those orbs were made of raw ghost energy, ectoplasm to be more accurate. But They were usually caught and placed in glass to work as a lamp to illuminate the path inside of the Dead Forest.

The reason why the werewolf didn't bring one, was because he didn't want to draw the attention of his kin. The ghost werewolves lived under the reign of Pariah Dark in a village not so far from the castle. An average adult werewolf could reach the limits of the castle in less than thirty minutes, if they ran as fast as they could.

The green orbs were also known as 'fireflies'. Nobody knew where those things came from or why did they only appeared at night. Even those captured fireflies, during daylight, became invisible and only reappeared during night. Even if they were placed in a complete dark place, as long as the sun was high in sky, they fireflies wouldn't shine.

Touching them was like a rather unique feeling for the ghosts. Their hands felt numb and after they released it, they felt their hands quite warm, in a pleasant way, actually. Nobody knew why and few cared to know. That werewolf was one of the people who cared.

He was a bit curious by it. The 'fireflies' always were found in large groups and yet that one was floating all alone. 'Maybe we caught too many of them…' he couldn't help but to think.

He gave a step into the direction the orb went and shook his head. 'What am I doing? This is stupid. I'm not going to chase a 'firefly'!' He stood there for a few seconds, then groaned before giving in into his curiosity. The silver werewolf started walking faster towards the direction it went. 'I'm going to hate myself later for wasting my time like this…'

The lycanthrope followed it into an area he had never been before. He felt like if didn't pay enough attention he could get lost for good. After an hour chasing the orb he spotted more and more glowing green orbs.

He had followed them for a while, but then he realized something was off. He started to recognize few places, but not because he was in a familiar area. It was because he started to walk in circles.

'What an interesting behavior. Why do these things move like this?' He mused as he looked as more and more 'fireflies' arrived.

There were so many now that it formed almost a ring, which covered a part of the forest. The werewolf was located just outside it. H took a deep breath and moved past the ring into the area it was surrounding.

He experienced a much more intensified numbness in his entire body, even tough just his chest was the part of his body that touched the massive amount of fireflies.

The werewolf almost lost his balance as he tried to recover his senses cursing himself for having the brilliant idea of following that green orb in first place. But when he was about to leave he felt great. It wasn't just a pleasant warm feeling. He felt like he had energy to run for countless miles.

It was then that he remembered what he read in his book. 'The great ring of eternal vigor reaches its peak at the midnight of everyday. In the very center of it lies the ultimate key.'

The he started looking everywhere around in the area inside of the ring. At every minute the entire area glowed green more and more. The orbs started to slowly mold into a solid green ring. The lycanthrope notice that. 'Maybe the key will reveal itself when that thing becomes a ring.'

So he waited. It took some time until midnight, but he was so anxious he didn't feel sleepy at all. When the midnight came, the orbs became a solid green ring of energy and it spun at a high speed.

The werewolf was fascinated by it and he wanted to touch it to try out how it felt, but something else called his attention. Right in the very center of the ring a purple light came from the ground.

The lycanthrope approached and sat on the ground near the glowing place. It wasn't wide, but it sure stand out in that place. He warily touched it and feeling nothing harmful against him he decided to dig using his powerful claws.

It didn't take him long until he reached a weird purple box. He wiped all dirty on it and held the strange object high to let the green light show him its details better. It was plain and had no lock and no gap he could use to open it.

He examined it more carefully and noticed eight circles on one 'face' of the box displayed in a way that four were horizontally lined up on one side and, on the same 'face', other four circles also lined up with their partners of it and he also noticed two more circles on the opposite 'face'.

The lycanthrope pondered about it for a while. After a few minutes he decided to try something out. He placed his thumbs on the side that were just two circles and his remaining finger on the side with eight circles and each finger was over each circle.

He pressed all his fingers at the same time and it surprisingly worked. When he pressed the buttons he heard a 'click' sound and he also heard something dropping on the ground.

The werewolf checked the side where he pressed with his thumbs and realized that a small door had opened. Then he looked to the ground and saw a medallion. It had the shape of a gear and it was gold and black and in the center of it had two letters written in blue. The letters were CW.

He picked it up and his grin was wide in satisfaction. His body trembled in excitement. 'I knew it. I knew it! The key does exist! It'll be only a matter of time until I uncover all mysteries about this place! All I have to do now is find the entrance to the truth!' He thought.

The ghost got up and traced his steps back to his home, hiding the medallion on his pocket. As soon as he did that the ring faded. It took him by surprise. He wondered what it could mean. But he shrugged and told himself it could be just a side effect, after all the ring was supposed to be the signal for the medallion, without the medallion, the ring would lose its purpose.

He did his best and managed to find his way back to the werewolf village. Something that he didn't notice was that there was no other 'firefly' as he ran back to his home.

End of chapter 2

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. See you next update. Please review because they make me very happy.

More Author Notes:

[1]I'm re-using an old OC of mine.