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, DaughterofPoseidon32498, Shaddow the Spirit and Christopher Scott
Danny looked at the lycanthrope quite confused. "You want me to be part of a personal project of yours? What do you mean?"
The werewolf chose his next words very carefully: "It's quite simple, Daniel. I've discovered a very ancient place inside of the Dead Forest. What it has inside of it might change the entire history as we know it!"
The young hybrid was listening with attention at the older ghost's words. His curiosity to know exactly what the werewolf was talking about was getting the best of him: "Really? Change how? How can I help?"
Alphonse smirked as he answered: "The place I'm talking about is called the 'Cave of Beginning'. It supposedly contains the secret of our origins. Can you imagine how we ghosts even came to be? Most of us think that we existed much before the humans, while others think we appeared later and the rest think that both species appeared at the same time. That cave will have the answer for that! As for your help, I'll explain everything when we get there. But I assure you that it'll be harmless. So you have nothing to worry about, but to go through a huge circle of fireflies. But you can wait outside of it while I bring the cave up. We know how the fireflies affect you and how long it would take until you stabilize again after touching one."
The werewolf also didn't want Danny to touch the 'Ring of Eternal Vigor' because if one firefly made him feel his body burning, he didn't even want to imagine what could happen to the boy if he even touched the ring by accident. The pain would be unbearable for him and so he wouldn't be able to keep in contact with the ring long enough to receive the positive effect of it. This would cause a much bigger side effect on the boy and Alphonse wasn't going to risk all his hard work. Being a full ghost all he needed was to have a short contact with the ring and he could withstand its bad effects much better than the kid in front of him.
"I see…" said the boy also remembering the little incident years ago, but he shook his head away of those thoughts and then asked his teacher: "Professor Alphonse, can I tell my daddy about it? I think he'll like to see this place as well."
The werewolf was already expecting that suggestion for the boy. He truly wanted for the boy not to be so attached to his father. He couldn't comprehend why the two were so close, but he answered: "As I said, Daniel, this is a personal project of mine. The only reason why I'm telling you this is because I think you could help me a lot being my assistant on this experiment. But I know how you don't like to keep things away from your father. I completely understand that. How about you only tell him what you've been up to with me after we finish exploring and studying it." Alphonse emphasized that he and the boy were going to share the discoveries. The lycanthrope hoped to make the boy feel important and therefore accept it. Even if the boy desired to tell his father, he would agree with the term to wait until Alphonse finished studying it.
The werewolf decided to go to the Cave of Beginning a few times and discover as much as he could about it. Then he would start stalling saying that his studies were 'inconclusive' and that he needed more time. Meantime, he would give the boy many other things to worry about, like extra exams, show him around the werewolf village among other things. This way, he hoped that the boy would eventually forget about it and even if he didn't, he could always say that the cave's secrets weren't supposed to be discovered and tell the boy it could be dangerous if they tried to push it any further and that it would be better if the two of them forget all about it. It was risky, but it was the best shot he had.
Danny was curious to know about this place, but again he didn't like to keep things away from his father. However, he was glad that Alphonse let him tell to Vlad about the things they'll discover. The hybrid wondered how proud his father would be knowing that his son took part at a huge discovery.
"I want to help you, Professor Alphonse. I promise to keep it a secret until you're done. But are we going to start going to this place today?"
Alphonse shook his head and said holding back his satisfied smile: "No, we aren't going to start going there today. That place can only be accessed late at night, so let's leave it for tomorrow. Try get as much sleep this night and when you're done with school, tomorrow, do your homework and try take a nap. We'll be going there near midnight or so. It's the best time to do it."
The boy nodded. He had to admit he was looking forward to see such a place. He was going to uncover, alongside with his teacher, some kind of hidden secret. It even looked like one of the adventure books he had read about ghosts looking for hidden treasures and fighting bad guys. But he didn't know what the cave held within it was far from a what a child's fairy tail described.
On the next day, both Alphonse and Danny kept with their daily routine, but the young hybrid didn't play with his friends after school because of what Alphonse had planned for them that night.
The boy could barely hide his anxiety. Alphonse had also warned him to not tell a thing about where they were going to anyone else, not even his friends of someone who worked at the silver lycanthrope's home.
When everyone of the staff left the house, Daniel, who was still in his ghost self, was at his room, lying on the bed, waiting until Alphonse to call him. The boy didn't know what to take there. Alphonse told him he didn't have to bring anything else, which seemed quite weird for the boy.
Then the hybrid heard someone knocking at the door before opening it. It was the silver werewolf. He wasn't surprised catching the boy awake. He doubted the boy would really fall asleep before such an 'adventure'. But he sighed, because he knew that the boy would be tired on the next day and he couldn't do it on the weekends because the kid was with his family and he wouldn't even dare to make Vlad get suspicious of him by asking if the boy would stay at his abode for just one weekend.
"I see you're up. But, really, you should have taken at least a nap, boy." Alphonse said.
Danny saw that the werewolf was holding with his left hand a small lamp with a couple of fireflies inside. But recalling the question, the boy sat on his bed and scratched the back of his head: "I couldn't sleep…But are we going to take just that lamp?" The boy actually tried to sleep like he was told, but he hasn't taken afternoon naps since he was six.
The lycanthrope nodded: "Yes. This is everything we need. If we go now we might get home a bit sooner. Remember to always stay near me and don't wander into the forest by yourself. Ever!"
Danny remembered that his father had told him the same thing. He didn't know what was dangerous in the forest to begin with. He had gone there some more times with his father at other camping trips and there was no danger at all as long he avoided the fireflies.
The boy got up off of the bed and saw his teacher take a black tissue from his pocket and cover the lamp, so it's shine couldn't be seen. "Why did you do that?" Danny asked.
Alphonse replied with a smile: "It's because we don't want to have our little secret to be discovered, do we?" after saying that he turned and said: "Let's go."
Danny promptly followed him. He had never gone outside in the middle of the night like that. Granted, he was with an adult, but he felt both very curious and somehow with a small pang of guilty. He started thinking why so much secrecy about all that. His father had told him that someone who didn't have anything to fear never tried to hide anything. But Alphonse seemed to be fearless like his father, so the boy could only think that the werewolf was just trying to make everyone a huge surprise with his discoveries. The last one was what the boy believed the most.
They walked downstairs and when they left the home, Alphonse carefully closed the door and then placed the keys in his pocket. The two ghosts walked in the dark night heading where the Cave of beginning was.
Danny's night vision was really poor. Most of the ghosts couldn't see well in the dark, so the boy carefully stayed near his teacher all the time to not get lost. Even during night, at the camping trips with his father, he would always light a bonfire or bring a lamp with fireflies. "It's very dark…" the boy muttered.
Alphonse knew it would be easier for the kid if he removed the tissue over the lamp to make things brighter, but that could backfire and make someone spot them.
"Don't worry, Daniel. Everything will be alright. Just stay close to me. When we get deep inside of the forest, I'll take the cover of this lamp and it'll be much better for you. Don't worry." Alphonse assured him. He didn't want the boy starting to chicken out.
Fortunately, for the lycanthrope, his words had success with the boy and Daniel relaxed a bit more as he stayed very near the werewolf. But Alphonse couldn't deny that he was a bit annoyed by that whole situation. He didn't like to depend of someone else to achieve his goals, especially a kid. But he was thankful that kids could be easily tricked given the right words.
After some time, they got deep into the woods and Alphonse fulfilled his promise of allowing the lamp to shine their path. He placed the tissue back into his pocked as they continued walking.
Alphonse knew the right path because he followed the flow of fireflies that got more and more intense with the time. Danny had never seen so much of those little green orbs together before and he looked at them in both wonder and wariness, after all, he didn't want to touch them.
After some more, the two of them arrived at the place where all the fireflies where gathering. Danny saw in wonder as the green orbs moved around in a circle and as the time passed by the more fireflies joined it and brighter became the ring.
Alphonse knew that he didn't have to wait until the ring to be complete to bring the Cave of Beginning up. He looked to the boy and patted him on the head as he said giving him the lamp to hold: "Hold this for me. I'll be right back. Prepare yourself to be amazed." The werewolf finished his sentence with a smile as he entered into the ring.
The numbness quickly struck him. But he endured it without showing it. He didn't want to worry the boy. He didn't want to give him a reason to hesitate at such an important moment.
He kept walking as the awful feeling was replaced by the intense vigor. He smirked at that. He always felt invincible. He approached the purple glow on the ground and unburied the little box that held the gear-like medallion in it.
The older ghost carried the box outside of the ring and the younger hybrid looked at the object with curiosity, but before he could ask what that was the ground started to rumble as a huge building came out of the ground. Even the ring made of fireflies disappeared when the cave appeared.
Alphonse saw Danny's jaw wide open as the Cave of Beginning emerged and chuckled lightly. "That's the Cave of Beginning, Daniel."
Danny looked in awe at the building in front of him. He couldn't believe that such a huge thing came out of the floor like that. Even the landscape changed to adjust itself to the massive construction.
Then the boy noticed the lycanthrope pressing the box and when it made a 'click' sound, the medallion fell on the ground . The boy looked with attention at it. He had never seen anything like it before.
Alphonse picked the medallion from the ground and then told the boy: "I'm going to use the 'key' to open the cave. Just watch."
Then the werewolf approached the entrance of the building and placed the medallion in the hole and then rotated it. The doors slowly opened revealing a path lightened by fireflies attached to the walls.
Danny looked at that in wonder. He could only wonder how his teacher found out about that place. But he was dragged away from his thoughts when Alphonse said: "Boy, now it's your part. But you don't have to do it unless you really want it." Then he added in his mind: 'One step back to give two forward. That's the best way to handle kids.'
The boy swallowed dry. He wanted to help, but he didn't know what he had to do so he asked the werewolf: "I-I want to do it. What you want me to do?"
The werewolf tried not to smile as he said with as much concern as much he could put on his voice as he kneeled down to look the boy right into his eyes. "I need you to go inside of the cave. Try go to the deepest part of it take a look at what it has inside and then come back to me to tell me what you saw. You'll have to turn to your human self before you enter it. But, as I said before, if you don't want to. It's okay. Unfortunately, I can't go inside it myself. I would have asked one or another human friends of mine to assist me with this, but I thought we could share this discovery together." The older ghost lied in his last statement so that he could make the boy feel as comfortable as possible.
"All I have to do is walk inside see what it has at the end and come back to tell you?" the boy asked to be sure of what he had to do. It sounded simple enough, but there was some uncertainty in his mind.
The werewolf nodded as he said: "Yes. But remember. If you feel too scared, you can always run back to the entrance. I'll be waiting right here. But you have to give me the lamp. Anything ghostly can't get inside of it."
The boy returned the lamp to Alphonse and looked at the entrance of the strange building . He took a deep breath and turned human. He carefully stepped inside of the cave and slowly moved inside of it.
Alphonse was glad that he had taken a few brown clothing from a human village the last weekend, when Danny was away with his family, and made the boy wear them that day. The fabric used by the ghosts couldn't phase through the anti-ghost shield of the cave's entrance.
The boy often looked behind to make sure his teacher was still there. Alphonse resisted to the urge of rolling his eyes at that but he kept encouraging the boy to both continue and quit if he so desired.
Danny wanted to continue. It was just a simple task. He didn't want to be afraid at such ordinary thing. So he continued to go deeper and deeper until he could barely see the entrance anymore. From outside the cave wasn't so long. The boy didn't know why it was different than that from inside. When he was seriously thinking about turning back, he saw a door. It had the same 'CW' symbol that the medallion did and it also had a handle. The boy hesitantly opened it.
What he saw amazed him much more. It was almost like some kind of sanctuary. The walls were plain white, on the top of the square room there were countless of fireflies together and it was so bright it seemed to be daytime. But what was in the center of it was what made his jaw drop. It was a tree. A common-looking tree. It green leaves, branches and a healthy looking appearance in opposite to the dead trees that the boy was used to see. In fact, Danny had never seen a normal tree in his life.
Then the boy noticed that carved on the tree's trunk was another blue 'CW'. The boy could only wonder what those letters stood for. He gave another look to see if there was anything else he should tell Alphonse. He saw that near the roots of the tree there was soil and some red-colored leaves. The boy knew that leaves often changed their color after they got detached from a tree, that's what he studied about human botany anyway. But then one leaf fell from one of the branches before his eyes. The boy quickly grabbed it while it was gliding in the air and picked one of the red leaves and left the room without closing the door rushing towards the entrance.
It didn't take long until the boy reached Alphonse who was waiting there for him. Alphonse looked expectant to hear what the boy had to say. He wasn't inside for that much time, but the werewolf was consuming himself with the desire to know what was inside of the cave.
But he was shocked when the boy told him about the weird door, the room and also a tree. If it were for the fact that Alphonse knew that the kid was no liar and because he had brought the evidence with him, he would have doubted. "Are you sure that was it? There was no other door or writings on the walls?"
The boy shook his head negatively as he turned back to his ghost self. Alphonse was sure that the kid must have forgotten to check that place properly. He really wanted to be able and do it all by himself because he refused to believe that the huge secret to the origin of the ghosts was a normal-looking tree. The only thing he found mysterious was that the boy mentioned that he had seen the same 'CW' symbol on the tree. The werewolf decided to call it a day and come back some other time. He wanted to check on his books if they mentioned anything about a tree.
After Alphonse made the Cave of Begging submerge again, he and the boy went back to their home. Danny, naturally was filled with questions, but Alphonse tried not to be rude and asked him to ask him after his school on the next day. He had to think some more and also research about what he had told him.
Little did they know that they were being watched from above by a blue-skinned ghost.
End of chapter 11
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. See you next update. Please review. I love to read your comments.