Danny was staring down at his plate of food, which he hadn't touched throughout the entire meal. His hair was hanging in his face, covering his eyes. If anyone were to reach out and touch him, they'd notice that his skin was cold.

As cold as a ghost.

He was silent for the rest of the meal, barely talking when spoken to.

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Why is Vlad doing this? Why can't he just leave me alone? I never did anything, besides get these stupid powers! He can't really kill me though! Right?

I won't die.

I WON"T die.

I CAN'T DIE!

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Vlad smirked. The entire reason to his appearance at Fenton Work's was sitting across from him. Daniel and Alex.

He came, not to kill Daniel, not yet at least, but to prove to him that he wasn't safe anywhere.

Daniel would die.

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The older halfa noticed how defeated the younger halfa looked. Danny excused himself and stiffly left the room, heading upstairs. Once he was sure that he was out of earshot, Danny ran, throwing himself into the bathroom, where he became violently sick in the sink.

He balanced himself with the palm of his hands on either side of the sink, trying to calm down. Shakily, he turned the faucets on, rinsing the mess out of the sink and his mouth. The sound of the rushing water filled his ears, calming his nerves slightly. He tensed up anyway when he heard soft footsteps.

"Feeling alright, Little Badger?" Vlad asked, patting the boy on the shoulder. The boy tried to back away, but Vlad kept a tight hold on his shoulder. Vlad turned him so they could see eye to eye. Danny stared up at him, terrified that Vlad would kill him in seconds. Any thoughts of using his powers to get away were forgotten and replaced with more fear.

"Everyone thinks that I am still downstairs, Daniel. For all they know, you're up here, alone." Vlad hissed, eyes flashing. He had duplicated himself without turning into his ghostly counterpart. This was just a copy of the real Vlad.

Danny jerked his shoulder free, backing away until his legs hit the edge of the bathtub. Vlad took a few steps towards him until Danny collapsed. Danny's head was buried in his knees, and his hands were weakly hanging on to the sides of his head. His shoulders were shaking.

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Danny had felt brave facing off against the ghost king. He had the ecto suit on then, a major protection. Now, he had nothing. Even with his powers, the older halfa had twenty years of practice.

How could he even hope to win against him?

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"The brave Danny Phantom, cowering in a bathroom," Vlad chuckled darkly "Where is that new power of yours now, hmm?"

Danny didn't answer. He looked up with wide and terrified eyes as Vlad continued to speak.

"I will kill you, eventually. You'll be as sane as I am when I'm done with you."

The copy vanished, leaving the young halfa paralyzed in terror.

A single tear fell from a blue eye.

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Danny didn't return. Twenty minutes later, Vlad said his goodbyes and left the house. As soon as the man was gone, Alex Sam and Tucker ran upstairs.

"Danny?" Alex called, loud enough to be heard, but quiet enough so those downstairs would be unable to hear him. He only got the steady flow of water as an answer. The door to the bathroom was wide open. Danny was still in the position Vlad had left him in. Alex walked in, turning off the water as he passed it. He could faintly smell an acidic odor as he passed the sink. The halfa looked up through his bangs.

"Is he gone?" Danny spoke in a hollow voice.

"Yeah. What happened?"

"Vlad."

"Vlad was downstairs the entire time-"

"No he wasn't! He used his powers and duplicated himself." Danny's voice cracked at the end, and he hid his face in his hands.

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Vlad smirked as he flew back to the five star hotel that he was currently staying in. He didn't want to deal with going between his castle and Amity Park multiple times. He landed silently in his room, which was of course the most expensive room at the top. Transforming back into Masters, he picked up the phone and called room service.

"How may I help you today?" the chirpy voice at the other end of the line sang into the receiver, giving Vlad a headache almost instantly.

"Two Bloody Mary's, please."

"Alright! And what is your room number, sir?"

"I am in the Penthouse."

He quickly hung up to avoid hearing the woman's voice again and settled back to relax in the nearest chair.

The Fenton's foolish camp was in two days. He'd rather have all of this mess finished with before then.

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Jack had been fiddling with a broken weapon for an hour. He quickly grew bored, and set the small disk back on a table before leaving the lab, leaving Maddie behind. The camp, as he was reminded by a bright sticky note on a calendar, was in two days. He couldn't wait, and neither could his wife.

Maddie had put together small models of their large and dangerous weapons, like the ghost portal and the missing battle suit. She had decided, and forced Jack to agree with her, that the portal would be off limits to the incoming guests.

"Jack," she called to the large man as he went up the stairs "Where are the kids?"

"They went in the ops Center. Tucker said something about watching a movie. They're just hanging out!" he smiled before continuing up the stairs to the kitchen.

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Tucker ran downstairs to make up some excuse to buy them some time and privacy.

"We'll be upstairs watching a movie!" he yelled down to the people in the lab before bolting back up the stairs.

Everyone was still in the bathroom. Sam had gone pale, or at least paler than she normally was. Her face was drawn tight with worry. Alex was sitting and quietly talking to Danny. Luckily for all of them, the halfa had calmed down from this, if only a little. He still had his arms wrapped around his legs, which were drawn up to his chest. He smiled weakly.

Alex continued talking, describing someone. "And when I asked him why he didn't trust the guy, he said: 'Well, we don't trust anyone. It's sort of what we do'."

"This is all coming from a guy who works at a bank?" Danny asked, raising an eyebrow. Alex nodded, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, but as he said himself, 'It's not my habit to make jokes'."

Sam felt the frown on her face soften as the tension in the room began to melt. She turned to face Tucker, who was standing in the doorway, as the boy cleared his throat.

"Tucker?" the Goth asked. Tucker pointed towards the stairs.

"I told them that we're in the ops Center watching a movie. That should buy us a few hours to be alone, but we should be up there in case they come to check on something."

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The teens trooped up to the ops Center in hushed voices. At Danny's suggestion, they decided to actually watch a movie. He wouldn't admit it, but his nerves were still on edge, to the point that he just wanted to run down to his parents like he used to when he was little and scared. He needed something to distract him.

Sam searched through the DVD's that were stored by the turntable. She stopped as she came across the records she had used to start her own radio station with Danny and Tucker and combat Ember's droning radio music.

The undead rocker had teamed up with a pint-sized pirate ghost to kidnap all of the adults in Amity Park. They would have succeeded, if Danny hadn't rallied all of the teens together. He led them to the ship, and fought along with them, even after the ghosts had thrown him overboard. He came back as Phantom. Sam recalled with a smile how Danny had gotten the others to follow him as he stood on the roof of his house and yelled at them through a megaphone.

"Listen up, people! If you want your parents back, you're gonna have to follow my lead."

Dash was quick to snap back at him. "Why should we follow you, Fen-toad?"

Sarcastically, Danny shouted back, "You're right, Dash. Let's follow the other kid who comes from a family of ghost hunters and knows how to work all their gear. No takers? Alright, then who's with me?"

Danny had been so strong there, so in control. Now, he was leaning against a refrigerator and trying to be invisible without actually doing it. He was scared. Sam paused, staring at him. He had his arms folded protectively across his chest. His eyes never stayed in one place for more than a few seconds. He must have sensed Sam looking at him, because he looked at her quickly with wide blue eyes. Sam blushed and quickly grabbed a movie at random.

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They sat in relative silence throughout the entire movie. When it was finished, it was past midnight. Alex turned the television off and stretched. Looking over at the others, he saw that Tucker was hanging off the armrest, fast asleep. Danny's eyes were shut in a light doze, and his arm was draped across Sam's shoulder. Her head was resting on the halfa's shoulder, though her eyes were open and watching Alex.

"Where are you going?" she asked softly to avoid waking the others. Alex shrugged.

"My room, There's no room out here."

"Mmm. Move Tucker over or something." She yawned and slowly shut her eyes.

Alex sighed, running a hand through his light hair. He just wanted to sleep, and doing so on a couch seemed like a poor idea. He shook his head before walking off. A minute later he had returned with a pillow and a few blankets from his bed. He dropped the pillow on the ground and threw a blanket over Tucker and another over Sam and Danny. Taking the last one for himself, he lay down on the ground, and was asleep in minutes.

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