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, writer-from-hell, Cristopher Scott and ayaneragon4ever for your reviews. They made me really happy. I hope you'll enjoy this as well.
A few months passed by after Maddie's burial. Daniel had grown stronger during the months, so he didn't need to 'feed' from his father's life energy. Vlad only lost a couple of years in the process. Not that he would miss them, because seeing his son healthy was already worthy of it.
Both Skulker and Wulf got worried not seeing their friend for a long time and they went to the Plasmius' abode to check on him. It was a shock for them to hear everything that happened to Maddie and how Vlad had to stay with his son all the time because of his premature birth.
The Plasmius family was part of a minor noble family. It had its advantages. They were invited for some of the parties in king Pariah's castle and they weren't as obsessed with status as most of humans were.
Eric's fighting skills even granted him to be nominated Pariah Dark's general. The older of the Plasmius brothers surpassed his younger brother in terms of strength and sword skill, but Vlad specialized more in his ecto-energy, so he could teleport and fire more powerful ecto-blasts among other things.
Skulker's family, the Huntstorm, was also like Vlad's, however he himself never enjoyed going to those parties, but he was usually dragged by his wife, Desiree, who he married some years ago. He loved her and that's the only reason why he tolerated going to the kings' castle for those 'pointless' balls. Skulker was five years older than Vlad and he considered Skulker more of an older brother to him than Eric.
Wulf lived in the werewolves' village. He didn't have any noble status technically and wasn't a ranked soldier either, however his race was considered important and received privileges form the king due the vast amount of knowledge they held. Only they knew the secret languages contained in the books of the ancient library also located in the werewolves territory. Vlad had met him in his childhood because he was sent to study there like many other ghost kids of his age. The best teachers were considered the werewolves and the lycanthrope only allowed the best student to receive their teachings.
In fact, two generations ago there was almost a war between the werewolves and the ghost king of that time because the ghost king's son failed the admission entrance exam and the lycanthropes refused to teach him just because of his rank. Fortunately, they allowed the king's son to retake the admission exam and the king made him son, who was Pariah's father, study his eyes out to not fail again and he passed with the minimum grade.
But in the end, it didn't matter what had happened between the families of Vlad, Skulker and Wulf, or the kingdoms and the werewolves. Vlad and Eric were still brothers and Vlad was still friends of Skulker and Wulf through it all.
So, naturally, at first, Skulker and Wulf were mad at Vlad for not calling them. They would have lent a friendly shoulder to him and they would have gone to Maddie's funeral as well. But they could understand that if they were him, they wouldn't have thought about calling them.
They were also surprised when they heard how exactly Danny was born. They felt really sorry for the kid not being able to know his mother.
They also were very angry towards king Raymond. They even talked with Vlad about a retaliation. They couldn't believe their ears when Vlad told them to drop the subject and never mention to Daniel how his mother died. But seeing how confused they were, Vlad explained about Maddie's last wish. They frowned at hearing that, but they decided to respect the boy's mother final wish.
Skulker had also offered himself to teach the boy how to hunt and also take him along with his own son, Johnny. While Wulf also offered himself to give the boy some private lessons to help him out to pass in the werewolves' school admission exam so he could get the best education as possible.
Vlad couldn't help but to smile warmly at his friends' support. He felt like he was going to need it.
One month later, Skulker was at the door of the Plasmius abode to pay his friend another visit. One of the maids of the house guided the ghost hunter to Daniel's room. Vlad was watching his son while he slept. Skulker could imagine why he was doing that even after Daniel not needing his life energy anymore. Vlad grew too attached to the boy spending months with direct contact with him.
The older Plasmius couple had prepared a room for the incoming baby as soon as they heard Maddie was pregnant. It had blue wall and a crib near the opposing wall of the door.
Vlad was staring at his child sleeping peacefully in the crib. He truly loved that child and he would do anything for him, he just wished his wife was there to share that moment with him.
Vlad heard someone knocking on the door and he turned to see who it was. He smiled when he saw Skulker who entered the room and went to the side of his friend. "Is the whelp doing okay, Vlad?"
The younger of the Plasmius siblings nodded and said: "Yes, he is. I know he doesn't need my life energy anymore, but I can't just leave him to the care of maids or nannies…I'm capable enough of raising him myself. I think Maddie would like it to be this way too."
Skulker rubbed his goatee and had to agree with his friend: "I know what you mean. Well, you know I have a four-year old rowdy-boy. Johnny is quite active and I'm very proud of him. And now my wife is feeding our newborn daughter, Ember. She's very beautiful and I think she inherited that from her mother. We both decided to raise our kids ourselves, it gives more trouble, but every second I spend with them is worth of it." Skulker said with a grin.
Vlad only smiled weakly at his friend. He knew Skulker was trying to chat with him so he would stop moping about the death of his wife, which he did quite often, actually. Vlad got himself into a dilemma. He wanted to move on, but he didn't want, or better saying, he feared to forget about his beloved if he tried to move on and try be happy like before of that incident.
Both men where watching Daniel sleep when suddenly the boy started to whine. Vlad quickly picked him up and rocked him on his arms trying to calm him down. But his whine suddenly turned into a loud cry.
"Maybe he's hungry or need to change…" Skulker said using for base his own experience with kids.
"Maybe…" Vlad said unsure.
However, before any of them could react, two blue rings appeared on the baby's waist and moved in opposite directions. His white aura disappeared and his hair changed to the black color.
Both adults were taken back by it. "What the…" Skulker said with wide eyes.
Vlad warily examined the baby to check for his vital signs. He was really worried because Danny haven't done anything like that before. Besides, the boy was whining as if he was feeling somewhat uncomfortable with something.
After checking his heart and pulse, Vlad's eyes went wide after he realized what happened to Daniel. He would have slapped himself on the forehead if he wasn't holding the boy.
He looked to Skulker and explained to him: "Skulker, you remember that Maddie was human, right? So Danny is half human, half ghost, in another words, a hybrid. I guess he was using his 'ghost form' so far because he had direct contact with me and my energy for a long time, so I think that's the reason he never showed any signs of being half human before. But it looks like he's finally showing off his human form. Maybe he needs to transform back to his human mode once in a while…"
The ghost hunter crossed his arms and looked pensively the boy. "I think the best question here is why does he even need to do that?"
"Who knows…only the time will tell. As long as it doesn't harm his health, I'm fine with it. He looks as handsome as human or as ghost in my opinion."
But Skulker didn't share his friend's enthusiasm. So he decided to remind his friend a certain detail he seemed to be forgetting: "I think he should transform back to his ghost self for now. The sooner he learns how to control it, the better it'll be. You know that there are ghosts around here who doesn't like humans."
Vlad sighed not being able to deny that his friend was right about it. He looked back to his son who had opened his eyes, revealing a pair of baby blue eyes. Plasmius smiled softly and told his son hoping he could understand while he gently tickled him under his chin: "Danny, could you transform back? Can you do it for daddy?"
Danny laughed softly at his father's touch and surprisingly he changed back to his ghost form. Vlad gave him an amused smiled and said to his friend proudly: "Looks like he's just as smart as he dad!"
Skulker chuckled and teased him: "Let's just hope he won't take his physical strength from your side!"
Vlad rolled his eyes, but then he smiled when he saw his son yawn and go back to the dreamland.
King Raymond couldn't rest for one single minute after hearing the news about his youngest daughter marrying a ghost. He considered it an act of betrayal never seen before in Amikeco Parko.
He heard from the guards what had happened to his daughter. He found no comfort in their words because he didn't know if they had managed to kill her or not. He didn't know what ghosts were truly capable of doing. 'Maybe that thing healed her. My father once told me, you can't consider someone to be dead unless you see the corpse by yourself!' he thought angrily.
Alicia and Teresa cried after knowing what happened. Both of Irongrip females didn't know what went through Madeline's head to involve herself with a ghost, but they still loved her. However, none of them dared to voice it to Raymond.
Alicia was pregnant and could give birth at any moment by now to the increase of king Raymond's worries. William, Alicia's husband, also agreed with his father-in-law about how Maddie disgraced his family. He had to agree with him because the last thing he desired was to end up having a war against him. Amikeco Parko raised their military forces exponentially after Maddie had disappeared with Vlad. Besides if he played nice enough, his child would end up being the ruler of both kingdoms.
The only thing that gave King Raymond some peace of mind was that he was arming his military forces with anti-ghosts weapons developed by Jack Fenton. That big man was sad after knowing that he wouldn't be able to marry Madeline anymore. He honestly believe that she was under the control of that 'vile creature'.
King Raymond knew that Jack's weapons worked because he saw when Jack experimented on three ghost vultures that had attacked the Fentons some time ago.
One day, Jack, who had a bit long hair[1] and his parents went for a horse ride on the outskirts of Battleport, which was a kingdom a bit far from Amikeco Parko. They were accompanied with a few dozens of guards to protect them from thieves and such.
During the stroll, Jack spotted a weird glowing green stone. He dismounted the horse and went to check it when suddenly three green vultures appeared out of nowhere and started to attack him and his family.
The guards that were accompanying the Fenton family drew their weapons and tried to attack the birds, but it was pointless. Everytime one of the vultures approached enough to reach the range of the swords, they turned intangible and they seemed to be snickering.
The three birds grabbed the soldier and lifted them high in the air and after aiming they released them on the other soldiers, who had also dismounted their horses, knocking them out.
The guards were starting to panic when Jack, furious at those weird birds, picked one of the green stones and threw it with all his strength at one of them. The rock hit the vulture knocking him out cold.
"Hey! Vat the…" questioned one of them confused.
The large man didn't know why the stone hit the one bird, but he used that opportunity to pick up two more of them and they hit their heads also knocking them down.
Jack was fascinated how those stones were able to hurt those birds more than swords! Jack told the guards to carry as much of this material to his workshop. Jack's parents always told him that a noble shouldn't be doing this kind of manual labor, but the big man liked to experiment and create new gadgets, chemicals and such. He even came up with a food he liked to call fudge[2], which he loved.
Jack kept those unconscious vultures in a cage hoping that it would at least hold them back a little. Jack had read about glowing beings with bizarre powers known as ghosts. He was quite fascinated by them and always wanted to study one and there he was!
He put on some protection gloves usually wore by blacksmiths and wasted no time. He turned some of that green stone into powder, mixed with water and submerged three coiled ropes inside of the recipient with the now green water.
He waited for a while and he removed the ropes carefully with big pincers, being extra careful to not touch the water with his bare hands. He didn't know of any side effect yet.
He was quite surprised when he saw that the ropes were now green with the same white aura that the vultures had. Still wearing the gloves, the man hold them carefully and for his relief it didn't do anything bad to him.
Jack quickly opened the cage and used each rope to completely tie the vultures. Then, the big man, after many tests, discovered many interesting things about that stone. He discovered that it doesn't melt inside of a hot oven, also similar to the ones used by blacksmiths. Another thing he discovered was that, once the powder was mixed with water, it easily attached to anything. He discovered it when he accidentally let the pincers fall into the green solution. By reflex he quickly put his gloved right hand into it and picked the object up. Both the pincers and his glove were green with the same white aura. He panicked and quickly removed his glove to see if there was any side effect on his hand. For his relief there was no side effect on his hand.
The man continued with his experiments on the stones until the vultures woke up. They struggled against the ropes and they discovered they couldn't phase through it.
"Vat gives? I can't go intangible!" exclaimed one of the vultures.
"Amazing! You know how to talk!" said Jack amused.
Jack then named that strange metal as 'Ectorranium'. Because it was capable of blocking the so called 'ectoplasmatic powers', which the man read about in his old books about ghosts.
According to those books the ghosts' blood is green and is called ectoplasm and the book also said that it might be the source of their powers, but there was no conclusive study about it.
Jack shrugged as he snapped out of his thoughts and took a better look at the vultures. "Release us now, or you'll face the king's wrath!" yelled one of the vultures who seemed to be the oldest of the bunch.
"Ghost king…" Jack repeated and adding in his mind 'They must have a hierarchy like we do'.
"Yes! If you don't release us, it'll mean war!" shouted another vulture.
The human frowned. "You attacked us first! What you did could be already a proclamation of war!"
One of the vultures defended himself: "Hey! We are royal scouts! We were just having some fun with you and besides we have diplomatic immunity!"
"Fun? You call harm innocents something funny?" Jack asked outraged.
The oldest vulture scoffed: "Don't blame us if your kin is so fragile."
"You'll see how 'fragile' we really are!" Said Jack before leaving the room.
"Hey! Release us!" yelled the birds struggling to get rid of the ropes without success.
The big man ignored them. He was furious at those birds, but he couldn't help but to wonder. If what those birds were saying the truth, it means that the Ghost King must by watching the humans. He couldn't help but to wonder why would he do such a thing. To ensure humans wouldn't try attack them? No, if it were the case, the vultures' answers would be completely different. Those birds acted like they were carefree, in another words, they felt confident they could take on any human any day!
"An invasion…" he muttered to himself. For him, that was the only logical answer. The Ghost King might be watching them to strike the humankind when they were more vulnerable.
Jack then contacted all nearby kings and also many important nobles to witness his anti-ghost gadgets in action and also to discuss the possibility of a ghost invasion. He explained how the vultures acted without any mercy to the lives of humans and how they felt no regret about it.
Those news made all kings become worried by the possibility of a ghost invasion. That was the reason why king Raymond wanted to marry Maddie with Jack. So he could have full access to all anti-ghost weapons the man created and also to assure to have a proper heir to ensure the independence and safety of his kingdom.
King Raymond was a man that didn't like to be pitied, yet he accepted Jack's offer to add Ectorranium to Amikeco Parko's army's weapons. The big man did it because he felt really sorry for what happened to Maddie and wanted to ensure that the same tragedy wouldn't fall twice upon that kingdom.
However, the Ectorranium technically belonged to the kingdom of Battleport, which was ruled by the Manson family. So king Raymond Irongrip still had to buy the stones, but the service of turning them into anti-ghosts weapons was done for free.
King Raymond seriously considered trying to have another child with his wife and he thought that if he still had some luck it would be a boy he always desired. But neither he or his wife were getting any younger and he feared that his wife's womb wouldn't be able to produce any child at all. But he still had to try. He refused to deliver his kingdom in a silver plate to William's heir.
In the meantime, the mysterious silver lycanthrope spent the last months trying to figure it out 'the ultimate key'. He read all books his father's library. The only clue he had found was about something called the 'Cave of Beginning'. He had traveled through many different areas and he got into all caves he had found, but there was no trace of them having anything related with the gear-like medallion he had found.
He got really frustrated, but he didn't give up. He kept searching day after day, but he had to wonder about something that was disturbing not only him, but the entire ghost race: What had happened to the 'fireflies'?
There was none in the forest and even those which were captured and kept in glass recipients had completely vanished. They didn't shine anymore even at night. Deep down, the silver werewolf knew it was related with the fact he had taken the key from its place, but he was no fool. He kept it all to himself. He often went to the same place where he discovered the key to check if someone had disturbed that place.
He decided to leave the box buried in its original grounds. He couldn't risk taking it home. Because, he had made another experiment of his. One day, near midnight, he had picked the box and placed the medallion back inside of it. For his surprise, as soon as he placed the gear-like medallion inside of it, the green ring made of fireflies returned. And when he took the medallion from the purple container, the ring disappeared once again.
The lycanthrope thought that the fireflies main objective was to signalize where the 'key' was being kept. But if that was the case, why wouldn't the fireflies still appear around him? After experimenting some more, he discovered that the fireflies only became the ring of eternal vigor in that place where he originally found the box. It only rose his curiosity even more.
He then tried another thing. At that same place, at the same hour. He placed the medallion back inside of the box, making the ring appear again. But this time, he tried to leave the place with the box.
As soon as he crossed the ring, he didn't feel neither the numbness nor the feeling of invincibility. He found it quite weird, but it soon disappeared as he felt the earth rumbling.
The earth, in the small clearing, where the box was being kept, started to shake harder when a metallic structure raised from the ground. It was a fairly big metallic building. It had a gate in front of it and nearby a hole with the shape of the medallion. Also it had attached to it two fireflies, one above and the other bellow the hole.
The lycanthrope stood there still a bit surprised, but when he recovered himself, he figured it out that the medallion was indeed a 'key'. It had to be inside of the locker in order to reveal that place. The werewolf was glad he was alone and due the time and the lack of light, no ghost would be able to spot it.
He raised an eyebrow as he noticed something even more weird. There was no fallen tree on the sides of the strange building. The werewolf was certain that there were trees there before…
He quickly shook his head and tried to focus on more important matters for him. He, who was still holding the purple box, opened it and picked up the medallion. Then, he placed it in the hole, but nothing happened. He crossed his arms while he thought for a while. Then he tried to turn the medallion, after all, it was called a 'key', wasn't it. He turned it clockwise and it worked for his excitement.
The big metallic gate started to lift revealing a path. Alphonse looked inside of the new path and saw that it was also lighted by fireflies. He couldn't help but to grin widely, showing all his teeth.
He tried to walk into the path, but his body collided with an invisible wall. "What the…" he said rubbing his muzzle.
Then he placed his right hand on it and there was a strange feeling for him. It was like there was a wall, because he couldn't push it inside of that place, however he couldn't tell if it were hot or cold. It was like the air itself had solidified.
He picked up a small stone and threw with his full strength inside of the place and for his surprise the stone went through it. He quickly pressed both of his hands on the place where the stone passed through to see if he had accidentally hit a hole or something, but there wasn't such a thing in that entire entrance.
He groaned being so close, but yet so far to enter that place, he assumed that was the Cave of Beginning. But then he yawned. He decided to leave this to another day. He needed to rest and think carefully how he could proceed to enter that place.
He had to admit he was worried how he could hide that place. He just hoped no one would try venture within the depths of the Dead Forest and the best he could do was lock the place again so no one would 'dare' try to discover its secrets before him.
He turned the medallion to the other side and the gate closed up again. When he removed the medallion the earth started to rumble again and the building started to sink into the ground and this time he noticed something even more bizarre. The landscape changed. The trees were moving on the ground back to their places before the building had risen.
The lycanthrope looked at it in awe. He had focused so much on the building rising he didn't notice that the trees could freaking move without getting out of the ground! He decided that, even though it was too risky to leave both medallion and the box there, it was the best thing to do. After all, the sudden disappearance of the fireflies had risen too much questions and he saw many ghosts trying to search for them.
He placed the medallion back inside of the box and buried it back on the place he had originally found them.
'It's certainly a interesting place…It'll be fun to uncover all its secrets.' he though as he returned to the werewolf village.
End of chapter 3
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. See you next update.
More Author Notes:
[1] Like the one he used to have when he was in college.
[2] I don't know who was the real creator of this food, but this is a fictional story.