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, Christopher Scott and writer-from hell for your reviews. I reeally appreciate them.
Five years passed by at a blink of an eye. Pariah Dark's anxiousness only increased through the years as his scouts discovered that the nearby human kingdoms were fortifying themselves with more anti-ghost weapons, Bloody Blossoms and now even the walls of each kingdom were ghost-proof. But this last one didn't concerned Pariah that much, because all ghosts knew how to fly.
It was the humans boldness that infuriated the ghost king. But he didn't just stood and watch. He made their soldiers go through an intensive training for the upcoming battle.
Not only that, but he also researched and asked Wolfgang, Alphonse's father, about substances toxic to humans. That lycanthrope had gained the king's trust after stealing his son's work and presenting it as his own. But the older lycanthrope started to have some difficulty to keep up with the king's demands without the indirect help of his son, especially after Alphonse moved out of the house.
The lycanthrope had a very hard time researching by himself. He even tried to persuade a talk about this subject with his son, hoping that he would end up giving him the answers he needed on a silver plate, but Alphonse knew better. He just pretended to not know what his father wanted to know and it was obvious for the parent that his son was lying and this only infuriated him more.
But he had managed to get some answers himself after several sleepless nights, after all he had a 'reputation' to live up to. He couldn't afford to lose the king's favor. He explained the king about several substances toxic to mankind.
The king was very pleased with this and he rewarded him with his weight in gold. But before the lycanthrope could leave, Pariah Dark asked him: "Do you know any effective way of killing several of these human bastards at once with any of these substances?"
The lycanthrope stopped on his tracks, then gave it some thought and replied: "If you want to, my king, I can research the best way to kill several roaches at the same time."
The ghost king grinned darkly and replied: "This would please me."
During these years, many things happened to Vlad and his son. Surprisingly, the little halfa managed to complete control his human half. He could now switch back to his human half at will and by doing it for a short time every once in a while, he never had another unwilling transformation into human.
Vlad was extremely thankful to Alphonse for that. It was the werewolf's idea that made possible for his son to control his transformations. Vlad was fascinated how he was able to help his son.
One day, at night, after Danny's classes were over. Alphonse, Vlad, James, Christine and Daniel were at the boy's room. It was the lycanthrope's own suggestion that the grandparents were there as well. The werewolf wanted to make sure he felt safe and comfortable. Besides this would earn some 'trust points' with the Plasmius family.
He had brought with himself a couple of fireflies trapped in a glass jar. Vlad had told what had happened in that camping trip and the werewolf thought a lot about it. He then came up with an idea and he hoped it would work.
Alphonse opened the jar and picked up one firefly. He ignored the feeling in his hand and he explained to the others: "The fireflies have special qualities. When we, ghosts, touch them, we feel a numbness first then a pleasant feeling." After saying that he remembered how good it feels everytime he crossed that ring made of fireflies.
"We already know that. But why does it have to do with anything?" James asked raising an eyebrow.
Alphonse smirked as he replied: "As far as I've been told, when the boy touched that firefly years ago, he turned human and he felt no numbness. I've come across a theory about how it worked with half humans like your son."
Vlad didn't tell the werewolf about that voice his son had heard and after a stern talk with Danny, the boy was forbidden to tell about it and also about his human half to anyone without Vlad's consent first.
Without further notice, Alphonse handed the firefly to the boy who looked unsure at it. He looked to his father who gave him an approval nodding and, hesitantly, he picked up the glowing sphere from Alphonse's hand.
It didn't take long until the boy whined and he was forced back to his human half. He was about to let go of the firefly, but Alphonse gently prevented him from doing so by pressing the boy's hands against the firefly. "Don't let go." He told him.
The boy then started to feel really hot and he even started to sweat a little. This didn't go unnoticed by Vlad who said: "Okay, I think this is enough." And approached to free his son, when a green aura covered Danny's entire body.
Danny blinked a few times and all unpleasant feelings were gone. He snapped back to reality when Alphonse asked him: "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine now…I don't know why, but this firefly is making me feel good now." He answered truthfully. But for some reason he didn't hear the voice again. Not that he complained about it.
The Plasmius sighed in relief and Christine asked concerned: "But why did this happen with Danny? This reaction is not normal."
The lycanthrope then told her: "You're right. This type of reaction is not normal for ghosts. Daniel here is half ghost. When a human touched a firefly, it seems like it's on fire for them. I gave a lot of thought of what you told me and I've come to a conclusion. For us, full-fledged ghosts, when we touch it, we feel a light numbness and then a pleasant feeling. For the boy, it's different. He first feels hot which forces his body to turn him to his human half then the firefly gives him energy. When he released the firefly, that day, before it could give him some of its spectral energy, he, how can I put this, made his flow of energy go wild and unstable. What you're seeing now is the effect of the long exposition to a firefly. In another words, it's fixing his body. Undoing the damage that the other firefly had done to him."
Even though what he had just explained was still just a theory, the lycanthrope was quite sure of what he was saying. The ghostly aura over the boy even in while he was at his human half proved it.
When the glow over Danny finally died down, Alphonse picked up the firefly from the boy, placed back inside of the jar and told him with a smile: "Now turn ghost."
The boy was a little confused at first but he did as he was told. He closed his eyes and tried successfully to turn into his ghost half.
"So, it's all over now?" James asked unsure.
"Not yet." Alphonse replied him and then returned his look to the boy as he said for everyone's surprise: "Try to turn human now."
"What? Why do you want him to do such a thing? Isn't his instability over?" Vlad said getting confused at the werewolf's suggestion.
Alphonse sighed before he explained: "The reason why your son needs to turn human periodically is still a mystery to me, but, if my theory is correct, the reason why he needs to do it is because his human blood stays so much time suppressed it needs to emerge to prevent a any health problem, after all he has two different types of blood in his body. If he suppress one for too long the other might suffer a side effect. If Daniel manages to complete control both his human and his ghost halves , if I'm correct, there'll be no more forced transformations and, therefore, his secret will be safe."
Danny looked at the adults unsure and he didn't understand very well about why his body needed to turn human, but he tried anyway. He recalled in his mind how it felt while he was human and for his own surprise he did it. The two rings appeared once again and turned him human. After he did it, he tried to go back immediately to his ghost half and it also worked. It seemed like everytime he switched to one of his halves, the process got easier every time. He didn't like to transform that much because always made him feel weird. That wasn't the first time he turned human at will before. Once, when he was all alone, he tried to transform and he did it with success, but because of the ringing in his ears he quickly turned back to his ghost half and never tried it again until now.
Another thing that the boy noticed was that the ringing in his ears never happened again, but that creepy voice saying stuff like "this is your home" only appeared when he turned human when he was outside of his home. He didn't understand that and he wanted to ask Alphonse about it, after all, the werewolf seemed to know a lot. But his father forbid him to say anything on this matter to anyone, including Alphonse. He feared that the werewolf might think that his son was crazy.
Vlad, James and Christine were astonished seeing the boy change back and forth like that. "If you turn human, let's say, once a week, or even better, once a day, I highly doubt you'll have another unwilling change to your human half ever again.
Daniel nodded. It was quite relieving for the boy to know that his body would stop acting so weird. However The blue-skinned adults doubted that Alphonse's method was the correct one. But they decided to give it a try anyway.
Vlad thanked the heavens for listening to the lycanthrope. His son seemed much more energetic and his worry about his son being accidentally seem seen as human was almost completely gone from his mind. His sole preoccupation was that his son was going to live with Alphonse for five days a week now.
Danny, as expected, passed on the entrance exam of the Lycan School with an A. Ember had also passed on the exam with an A and Johnny also passed on his first try too, but with the lowest grade they admitted someone to get into the school.
Classes wouldn't be starting for another week yet and already Vlad knew how much he would be missing his son. He was aware that he could pick his son on the Fridays, after classes and return him on Sunday night, tops. But that wasn't enough for him.
It was late at night and Vlad was in his room without wanting to rest. It seemed it was just yesterday he had to give his own life energy to his son in order for him to live. But this memory also triggered another one that saddened him even more: The death of his wife.
Truly, he still loved her with all his strength and he didn't even consider marrying once more. He closed his eyes as he remembered all the good time both shared. He clung to those memories to move on. He knew that she was looking out for him and Danny and that she would be sad to see him moping around. He was sure that she was proud of having such a good boy as Daniel.
When he closed his eyes to dive into the good memories, he heard someone knocking on his door and he went to open it up wondering who it could be at that hour of the night.
When he opened it, he saw his father standing there. "Father, what are you doing up at this hour?"
The older man smiled and replied: "I came here to talk, son. I figured you would be worried about Danny leaving to the werewolf village next week."
Vlad sighed and moved from the door allowing his father to enter into his room. The man gently placed his hand over his son's should and said: "They all have to grow up someday, son. Your mother and I felt the same way when you and Eric had to go too. It's only natural. Daniel will be staying in a safe place and, besides, it's not like you aren't going to see him anymore. He's still going to spend the weekends here."
Vlad closed his eyes and shook his head: "I don't know, father. Something tells me not to let Danny go. You don't know how many times I considered into canceling his enrollment at the Lycan School."
James raised an eyebrow at that. "Why? Your son worked really hard to get accepted into it." But then after a few seconds of silence, the older man continued warily: "Is there anything you aren't telling?"
Vlad shook his head. "I don't know…That's what scares me the most."
James looked at his son for a while unsure of what to say. "Well, maybe it's just because you never got separated of your son before in all his life, but he needs to learn some independence. It did wonders for you and Eric. This will only make your son a better person. You know what they say. 'Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.' It's that simple, son."
Vlad sighed. He knew his father was right, but this didn't sooth his anxiety. "Maybe, I'm just overreacting. Just a little. I guess this whole war against humans is what I'm truly worried about."
James nodded before he replied: "As I said before, Daniel will go to a safe place. His teacher's home. He knows the secret and he has been helping Danny a lot. He'll also help to keep his other half hidden from everyone else. Nobody will discover his half human condition. Relax, son."
Vlad looked a little sad at his father as he said: "I'll try father. I'll try…"
Meanwhile, Danny was also unable to sleep. Like his father, he was also worried with the new life he was going to have from now on. He was going to attend the Lycan School for eight years and was only going to be able to visit his family on the weekends and vacations.
He had to admit he was happy because Ember and Johnny were going to attend the same school as him. Alphonse also told him that the school was going to be very interesting and that he was going to broaden his horizons.
Danny was going to meet several other children of his age and he had to admit he was looking forward it. The only kids he ever interacted with were Ember and Johnny and he wanted to make more friends.
Vlad said that people might take this the wrong way and think he had some…problems. Danny didn't understand what his father meant by that, but he obeyed.
The boy yawned and closed his eyes as he still wondered what awaited for him at the werewolf village. It didn't take too long until the boy drifted to a land of sweet dreams.
Elsewhere, in a room full of several gears and 'clocks', which couldn't be found anywhere at that time. A purple cloaked ghost with red eyes, a scar over his left eye and with blue skin observed everything that happened both in the Dead Forest and the human kingdoms on a mirror-like device which showed him any place of the world.
The adult ghost then turned into an elderly form of himself and he shook his head as he thought: 'Why do people keep letting petty misunderstandings to create war among each other? This hate is irrational. Ghosts and humans both have feelings. They bleed if they're cut, they laugh when happy, they cry when sad, they have families, friends. They're all the same…'
Then after changing into a child form of himself and pressed a button on the top of the staff he held making the mirror-like device in front of him change the image to Alphonse from several years ago in front of the Cave of Beginning.
'If he knew the consequences of his actions, he wouldn't be so foolish to try what he's about to. Curiosity can bring made wonders and fantastic discoveries, but other things should be left alone.'
End of chapter 9
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. See you next update. Please review. I love to read your comments.