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 and Christopher Scott for your reviews. I really appreciate them.
Vlad and Danny got ready for the camping trip. They both said their byes to James and Christine Plasmius. The oldest male of the Plasmius family could remember his camping trips he did with his sons and even the ones he used to do with his father.
James and Christine were in their room reading a few new books they have bought from the Werewolf Village. The couple liked reading. The woman suddenly closed her book and put it aside. Then she turned to her husband and said hugging him: "Dear, have you ever got the impression that our kids grow up too fast?"
The man smiled at his wife and said: "Honey, they all have to grow up someday. Eric is the king's general and Vlad's doing a great job at raising Daniel and dealing with our family's business. He managed to close a very good deal with the Nightshade family. He managed to build a jewel crafting workshop right next to that mine he discovered. He sold them many medium quality jewelry at the price of high quality ones and without deceiving them! He has a soul for business." He finished with a light chuckle.
Christine stared at her husband for a while, gently caressing her husband chest. "You know that I'll always miss the good old days. It even seems like it was just yesterday that Eric was born."
James had stopped reading his own book, and also placing it aside, he turned to his wife and then hugged her back. Staring deep into her eyes, he kissed her gently. "They're going to be alright, my beloved. A good parent knows when to let a child to walk on their own. We can't make them stay under our wings forever."
The woman knew that her husband talked the truth, but she couldn't deny her own motherly instincts. She was really happy that her grandson managed to survive such an unusual birth and at the same time she was saddened because the hybrid's mother wasn't there to share the happiness of seeing Danny grow up.
After a few more minutes of just cuddling on the bed, the ghost woman decided to shake away those sad thoughts and wanted to tease her husband a little bit. Then she moved herself to stay on top of her husband, making his lie over his back again. She smiled and said: "What do you say? We're completely alone in our house for today, how about if we make use of this opportunity the best we can?" she said with a seductive smile.
The man just grinned widely and replied: "So do you want to play chess?"
Christine rolled her eyes. Is 'cluelessness' part of the males of our family or what?'
Vlad and Danny went to meet Sklulker in the meeting place. It was in one of the rare clearings in the Dead Forest, which happened to be near a river. Skulker and Johnny were already there waiting for them.
As soon as Danny spotted Johnny he ran towards him and said with a big smile: "Hi Johnny!" then he looked around and saw no sign of Ember. "Where's Ember?"
"I'm right here!" She said coming out of a tree and hugging Danny from behind.
Vlad raised an amused eyebrow and asked Skulker: "You brought Ember too?"
Skulker nodded and said scratching the back of his head: "You see, I thought that it would be unfair to not bring her here. She really wanted to come with us and, well, you know all the pressure girls have. They have to obey tons of behavior rules and such. My little girl was doing a very good job to keep up with the expectations laid upon her and no one saw a problem to bring her here for a change. It'll do her some good to let her just be herself for a change."
Vlad nodded in agreement. The black-haired ghost saw that Skulker brought some fishing poles as well and then he turned to the kids and suggested to them: "Why don't you go try catching some fish while we set the camp, hmm?"
The three kids smiled brightly with the suggestion and they picked up their fishing poles and buckets.
"I bet I can catch a bigger fish than you!" Danny said to Johnny challenging him.
"Oh really? Let's see about that!" Johnny replied with a cocky grin.
"No. I'll be the one to catch the bigger fish!" said Ember not wanting to lose.
Both parents chuckled at the sight of their children fishing. "You know, most of nobles would have a heart attack if they saw us in the wild like this." Skulker said smiling as he set the camp tents.
Vlad was taking care of unloading and organizing all their material. He looked at Skulker and said: "You're right about that. They don't know what they're missing!"
Skulker just nodded. When both adults finished setting the camp they saw their kids arriving with buckets full of fish. Skulker had taught the three of them how to fish one time when Danny was passing a few days at Skulker's home.
"See, I told you I would win. I caught more fishes than you all! And they're bigger too" Ember said proudly.
Danny and Johnny also caught fish but they were definitely smaller than Ember's. "Well, I will let your boldness slide, little sister. But be certain that I am not afraid to take any challenge, even if you cannot admit that by letting you win, I'm being a really good big brother." Said Johnny trying to minimize his lost.
"And a brother who can only twist the truth instead of speak it, you mean!" pouted Ember.
Danny just laughed at the scene. He loved spending time with them, but sometimes being with them made him wish for a little brother or sister. He even asked this to his father, but Vlad had told him he couldn't have a little brother or sister because his mother was in heaven now.
The boy shook away his negative thoughts and tried to enjoy the best he could this day with his friends. Because they had caught lots of fish, their lunch was quite good.
After their meal, Skulker tried to teach the kids some primary hunting techniques. Vlad watched amused as his son listened with attention at his best friends explanations. Skulker even taught them how to make simple traps to catch bunnies and he spread some of them through the forest to see if he could catch something.
The kids used the remaining of the daytime to play in the forest. The adults could hear the laughs of joy and they were quite satisfied seeing their kids' happiness. Vlad and Skulker mostly relaxed and talked about the news they had to share. Vlad ended up telling Skulker about Eric's warning.
The hunter frowned hearing that and he agreed with Fright Knight in something: Vlad needed to make his son lay low when the ghost king declares war. They couldn't risk king Pariah to discover about Danny's condition. He would certainly be killed.
The black-haired ghost sighed. He knew that. He would give his life to protect his son, but he also didn't want to trap the boy in his home just because of his condition. It wouldn't be fair with the hybrid.
Vlad then suggested to leave this subject for another time when he spotted their kids returning to the campsite. It was getting dark and Skulker went to check his traps if he caught something. As expected the hunter caught some rabbits that wandered in the forest and he prepared a small feast for dinner.
After the dinner, Vlad was teaching the kids about constellations and their meanings. Danny listened to his father with attention. He always found the sky to be quite fascinating. He wondered about its mysteries and if he could solve it one day. But, for now, he was satisfied at looking at the sky full of stars.
Danny then noticed some fireflies floating heading to the direction were the 'gear-like' medallion was being kept, but only Alphonse knew the exact location of it. The young hybrid always wondered what were those little balls of energy. He had seen some of the maids placing them inside of glass tubes and using them as illumination for the nights.
Johnny and Ember were quite surprised to see fireflies floating so close of them, But Vlad and Skulker were already used to it. The adults chuckled seeing their kids watching in awe at something so common.
Danny found them to be very pretty. The boy flew a little in the air and grabbed one of them. He didn't feel the numbness that came before the pleasant warmth. The boy felt, instead uncomfortably hot and the firefly started to shine brighter making the three other ghosts to look at the halfa quite surprised.
Vlad, didn't like this. He had never seen a firefly react this way. As He approached his son, he said: "Daniel, let it go now!"
But the boy couldn't let go of the firefly no matter how hard he tried. The firefly shone so brightly that it seemed like a small Sun. All ghosts closed their eyes to protect themselves from it and when they reopened their eyes. Danny was on the ground in his human form.
"Danny!" Vald rushed to his son grabbing him with his arms. "Please open you eyes, son!"
The halfa slowly opened his eyes and looked to his father: "Daddy? What…"
"You're at your home."
"You're safe."
"Continue to live here."
Danny blinked a few times after hearing that strange voice. He didn't see his father's mouth moving and he was certain that the voice didn't belong to Skulker or Johnny. He looked at his father a bit scared and asked: "Did you hear that, daddy?"
"Hear what, my boy? Are your ears ringing again like they do when you turn human? More importantly why did you turn human?" The parent asked with his eyebrows creasing in worry. Not that he expect his son to know the reason why he just transformed into his human half.
"You're safe here."
"Don't be afraid."
"The forest is your home. Forever."
Danny was starting to get scared. Those voices were like a whisper and he was starting to want the old ringing back. It was less frightening to hear than having someone say these strange things to him.
The boy focused as hard as he could and he finally managed to turn ghost again. "Daddy, didn't you hear? Someone was just talking. He was saying weird things like 'this forest is your home'. What did he him mean?"
Johnny was the first to speak truly confused: "Are you sure you heard something? I hear nothing. Did you hear something Ember?"
The girl just shook her head concerned about her friend. She knew that everytime he turned human, his ears hurt a lot, but that was the first time he was hearing things in his human self.
The ones who were more frightened were Skulker and Vlad. They also knew about Daniel's condition in his human self and Vlad had to make sure of something: "Son, did your ears ring like always?"
But the boy shook his head really frightened. He was confused and he didn't know what was going on.
"I think we should cancel this trip…" Skulker said with a frown. The hunter didn't know much about the biology of a half ghost half human being, but he knew for sure that hearing voices were never a good sign.
"I agree…We'll go back tomorrow morning." Vlad said.
The kids protested, because they didn't want to leave so soon. But Vlad was too worried about his son to focus on the camping trip anymore. Danny apologized to his friends for ruining the mood, but they didn't blame him for that.
Vlad took his son to his tent, but he couldn't sleep. Danny at first didn't want to, but the tiredness of the day soon caught him and he fell asleep. Vlad didn't know what had happened. He didn't know why the firefly reacted like that with his son. And not knowing that was what scared him the most.
A month passed by since that incident. Vlad couldn't predict anymore if his son would turn human, especially when he had turned into one accidentally not too long ago.
Vladimir told his parents what had happened and the three of them watched the small boy like hawks. Danny, of course noticed that, after all they all kept asking questions about how he was feeling and if he was still hearing 'that voice'.
The hybrid didn't hear 'that voice' since he turned back to his ghost self. His family was really concerned with him, but he didn't like to be asked if he was okay every five minutes.
Count Vlad also kept watching his son's lessons. The parent had to admit he was really worried about his son's safety near that lycanthrope, after all he never gave an answer to what he thought about the humans.
The parent also feared to even bring the subject up again. It would raise too much suspicions. At least he was glad that Alphonse seemed to get more friendly with both him and his son. Yet he still felt uncomfortable in leaving his son all by himself with that werewolf.
However, one day, one ghost he was doing business with arrived too early and at the same time Danny was having his classes. The parent bit his lower lip and told the maid to tell the ghost to come back later, but the guest refused to leave until he talked personally with Vlad.
The man sighed and told his son he would be back soon. Then he left. He thought about leaving a maid to watch over his son, but if he did that, he feared that the werewolf would start to question him about his overprotective behavior towards his son and even ask him if he didn't trust him enough to teach alone.
Vlad decided to end that matter as fast as possible and return to watch over his son.
When Alphonse and Danny were by themselves, Danny gave a tired sigh. He didn't mind spending time with his father, but it started to feel weird the way he was acting towards him.
Alphonse noticed little difference in Vlad's behavior. He rarely gave them five minutes alone anyway. He was dying with curiosity to know more about that 'weird-looking' woman. He knew that no one from the staff would answer him and he figured it out that they must have been acting under the instructions of the Plasmius. But right next to him there was an innocent kid that could be persuaded more easily.
"So, kid, do you know who is that lovely woman with red hair that was in a painting in the hallway?" Alphonse asked suddenly.
"Yes!" The boy answered without thinking. But as soon as he noticed what he had just said he stopped writing. He remembered how his father taught him to not tell any stranger about his half human status.
"Could you tell me who she was?" Alphonse said lowering his book and giving the boy a firm glare.
Danny didn't reply and he just looked away from the werewolf's firm stare. That whole situation was making him really nervous and he wondered where his father was.
Noticing the kid's nervousness, Alphonse asked: "Does Wulf know who she is?"
"Yes…" the boy answered. He didn't know if he shouldn't tell him this or not, but it was too late to take back his words now.
"So, is this some kind of secret that you can't tell to strangers?" Alphonse asked shooting in the dark hoping to hit something and for his surprise, it did.
The boy looked at his with widen eyes and said: "How do you know?"
Alphonse did his best not to smirk. He remained with a neutral expression. "It's quite obvious to tell the truth. But what I don't know is why am I not allowed to know? Am I a stranger to you?" The werewolf wanted to get to the deep of that family mystery.
"No…" the boy answered starting to fidget.
Alphonse then asked again: "May I know what kind of bad thing is going to happen if anyone know about this?"
Danny looked surprised at his words as he finally said: "My daddy said that if I tell this to a stranger, this stranger might hurt me…"
The lycanthrope blinked a few times after hearing the boy. 'What could possible make someone want to hurt a five-year-old child?' but he quickly shoved away the thought as he improvised: "You're a good boy. You should obey your daddy and don't tell any stranger about this subject. When your father doesn't recognizes me as a stranger anymore, you can tell me. I would never hurt you. Now I think we should go back to our class. You have a few more questions to finish."
But Danny was taken aback by his words and he looked back at his sheet of paper not knowing what to say. That werewolf was quite nice to him. Not as much as Wulf was, but Danny couldn't help but to start to like him. For the boy, the lycanthrope only acted weirdly in the beginning because they were 'strangers' to each other, however he was having classes with him for over a month now. The boy didn't know how much time a person 'stopped being a stranger'. His father never told him that.
In fact, Vlad saw no need to tell Danny to ever talk about his half human status to Alphonse. The parent thought that the lycanthrope seemed to have forgotten all about his wife's painting, besides the parent thought Danny would never tell, after all Vlad constantly reminded him to never talk about this to strangers. For Vlad, the werewolf still fitted in this definition, but the boy was having seconds thoughts on that.
Alphonse could see the boy's hesitant look and he used all his willpower not to grin in satisfaction. He maintained a calm face and told Danny: "You should focus on your math problems, Daniel. I already told you that it's fine. You don't have to tell me, if your father still think I'm just an outsider." In case he couldn't make the boy tell him, the werewolf wondered if he could make Wulf talk to him about it.
The silence continued and Danny didn't like that situation. He didn't want to disobey his father, but he wondered if Alphonse was still a stranger. He wanted to tell him, after all his father told him there was nothing wrong in being half human, yet the boy failed to understand why his father told him that not everyone might like knowing that.
His father also always told the boy to be truthful and that he shouldn't lie. Only bad people lie. That's what Count Vladimir said to his son. The boy had conflicting emotions. But then he decided something. He personally didn't feel uncomfortable anymore with the werewolf near him. He didn't want to lie and become a bad person and he didn't want to feel ashamed for being half human.
The boy took a deep breath and looked straight into Alphonse's eyes. "That person is my mommy. She is, I mean, was…human…"
Alphonse's eyes went wide with this new information. 'How could I haven't notice this before? No wonder so much secrecy.'
The lycanthrope wanted to press further into the matter, but he didn't want the child to panic and tell his father that he had just revealed his big secret: "I'm…honored. I'm really glad that you trusted me enough to tell me this secret. You really look like her."
Alphonse also figured it out that, when the boy corrected himself, his mother was dead. He also didn't want to make him cry when his father could arrive at any moment.
Danny couldn't help but to smile after hearing that man. He was glad that he had didn't mind his half human status and started to wonder even more why his father wanted him to keep it a secret.
"Are you going to tell you father that you told me about your secret? I don't know how he would react knowing that I know about your secret. I don't think he would be mad with you, but maybe he wouldn't like having someone who knows about your secret staying so near of you."
Danny looked at him confused. "But everyone here knows about it. I don't think daddy would be mad, would he?"
With his last statement, Alphonse confirmed that everyone in that mansion knew about it and seemed to be okay with it. Then he said: "How about if we keep this little thing from your father and we can tell him together that I know about your secret and that I don't mind it when he's ready?"
Danny smiled liking the werewolf's plan. What he didn't know was that the lycanthrope had an idea, which made him smile widely, but he was soon interrupted when Vlad arrived. The man looked at the teacher and his son and asked: "Did something happen while I was out?"
Alphonse just turned to him and said: "No. Everything is just fine."
End of chapter 7
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. See you next update.