Chapter Seventy-Three: Fight
That was the last favor Danny asked for Stuart, but they kept in contact without Vlad's knowing. When Vlad asked about the number on the record, Danny said it was a teen he met online and exchanged numbers with. Vlad accepted that and so Danny could keep calling Stuart without worry.
It was summer break before he knew it and he and Dan both felt tense about the time of year, Dan constantly disappearing into the Ghost Zone to go drinking and hang out with Johnny 13 and some others while Danny flew outside with Dani as often as he could.
On one of the days when both were home, they got told that Jasmine, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie wanted to visit. Vlad had seen no reason to refuse, but said it was up to the boys.
"This is the first time we'd have all four in the house at once." Danny said as the household sat in the den. "And how will we explain Dani to Valerie?"
"Maybe I can stay with Clockwork, or go into hiding with Plasmius." Dani suggested.
"Plasmius goes to Desiree's Spirits." Danny shook his head. "Clockwork would be the safer option, but we have to talk to him about it first."
"There's also the Guys in White. They'll be willing to take her in for a little while." Plasmius remarked. "Really, Daniel, you think all I do is drink when I'm not here?"
"I have no clue, but I know you go there a lot; especially with Phantom." Danny huffed.
"Is someone jealous?" Dan smirked. "Sorry I'm taking away your sparring partner all the time."
Dani shrugged. "Anyways, we'll ask Clockwork. The fun part will be keeping them all from calling Phantom 'Phantom'!"
Yeah, that WAS the "fun" part. That afternoon, Plasmius talked to Clockwork about Dani staying over for a little while while Danny and Dan had the fun task of telling Tucker, Sam, and Jazz not to call Dan "Phantom" while visiting.
"It'll be hard; his name is always on the tip of my tongue." Jazz admitted.
"Well, do what you can." Danny pleaded.
Jazz had moved out from their parents' place five months ago and into her own apartment, which meant they could talk without worrying about their mom – or worse, dad – coming in to tell her it was time to eat.
As they ended the video call, Danny felt a little guilty for hiding so much from her. After she had found out about him being Danny Phantom, he had thought he could tell her everything. But, how do you tell your sister your father is a cruel, sadistic mon—no, stop that train of thought.
'You know he is, though.' Dan said in his head. 'He's exactly what he kept saying we were.'
'Stop it. Don't talk about it, especially not right now.' Danny thought. He'd been afraid to sleep lately, because of nightmares that started at the start of summer break. He was reliving his captivity again, and he always woke up screaming for his father to stop. Dan would shush him, hold him close, and tell him that it wasn't happening and they had escaped.
Tonight was the same. He let himself go to sleep, curled up in Dan's arms, and he begin to see images. His father staring at him, a stopwatch in hand as Danny was in the tank. Phantom was in the other room, unable to reach him, and they couldn't communicate at all. Then he was pulled out of the tank and his father's gaze was on him as he wrote down in a notepad he always kept on him.
In reality, his father had spoken to him, even joked with him. In his dreams, all he saw was cold, cruel resentment in those eyes that he had only seen tenderness from before…before he…
Then he was flashing back to before the tank, when he was being cut open as Phantom recovered from his own session. The pain seemed so much more intense, and his father was laughing as Danny screamed and screamed.
"Danny!" He was roughly shaken and he woke up with a start, Dan's face looking down at him. "Danny…" He pulled him closer. "It's just a dream. Just a dream, Danny. We're free. We're free."
"Mm…" Danny clung to him. "Phantom…can we go sit on the roof?"
"Vlad said he doesn't like it when you—"
"Please?" Danny pleaded.
Dan sighed and nodded, holding him in his arms as he went intangible and went through the ceilings up to the roof. Then he gently sat Danny next to him and looked up. "The stars are out."
Danny nodded. "Like that day when we tried to run away…"
Dan wrapped an arm around him. "Don't think about it."
Danny closed his eyes and relaxed against him. "I wish…that just didn't happen. But, I'm not getting Desiree into this."
"Something tells me that all of our fellow ghosts prefer us as two separate beings with trauma instead of one person constantly in their way." Dan scoffed a bit. "I kind of prefer it better this way, too. I just wish…we'd been split some other way, by our own choice. And that we weren't tortured the way we were."
Danny nodded. "It's behind us now…but we can't let it go."
Dan sighed. "Not until he's seen justice for what he did. And then…tell we'll tell the truth to everyone we've been lying to."
"They'll kill him." Danny frowned.
"Well, that or put him in jail for child abuse." Dan shrugged.
"We can't do that to dad." Danny frowned.
"Dammit, Danny!" Dan suddenly snapped. "He needs to be properly punished for what he's done! He's getting away without any trouble, aside from that favor the Guys in White did for you months ago!"
"But—"
"No." Dan stood up. "He's not our father, Danny. Stop looking at him like he is."
"But he IS our father!" Danny stood up.
Dan looked at him, and then swung his fist back, punching Danny retaliated by the same, and soon the two were chasing each other over the castle, sending blasts of ecto-energy at each other. That is, until two Plasmius clones grabbed each one and held them still as Plasmius flew up to them with a quirked brow.
"You're going to wake Vladimir and Danielle." Plasmius said calmly. "What brought on this argument?"
"Nothing." Dan huffed.
Danny didn't reply, slumping in the firm grip of the Plasmius clone that held him.
Plasmius sighed and looked at them. "Well, then. Whose mind am I delving into to get the answers I want?"
Neither of them spoke, just silently glared at each other, Danny's blue eyes glowing a bright, toxic-green now. Plasmius looked thoughtful and then went to Danny. "Very well, I'll choose your mind. I've been delving into Phantom's mind a lot recently, it's your turn." He placed a hand on Danny's head, closing his eyes as he delved into Danny's memories.
Dan glanced away, struggling in the clone's hold.
Danny let him entered his mind, hitting him with the full force of memories and emotions connected that Dan had concealed. It left Plasmius feeling shaken, disgusted, and downright murderous as he pulled his hand away. "Don't ever go into my head again." Danny said flatly.
"Right." Plasmius shook away the urge to kill that was rising up. "You two should come back inside."
They returned with him, but didn't go back to sleep. Instead, Danny retreated into the Ghost Zone with Plasmius in pursuit while Dan went to Vlad's bed and woke him with a kiss. By morning, the two were in better spirits and talking again, while Plasmius was muttering to himself about wanting to shoot something.
"What did I miss?" Dani asked, looking at her housemates with a raised eyebrow.
"…A lot." Plasmius said, frowning. "Daniel, where did you go last night?"
"I went to Ember's place. She's teaching me the guitar." Danny replied.
"I didn't find you there. I asked her if she'd seen you and she said she hadn't." Plasmius looked at him.
"I told her to lie if anyone came looking for me." Danny replied, taking a bite of his food.
"Danielle, Miss Gray and the other three are going to be here this afternoon, so after breakfast I'll have Plasmius escort you to Clockwork's place on his way out." Vlad said; interrupting what was sure to be another argument between Danny and Plasmius if it continued.
"Sounds like a good idea." Dani nodded. "Do you think Master Dark will be okay with me living there for a while?"
"If he minds it, he'll tell you in a snide way." Danny assured her.
"Okay." She nodded, getting up from her empty plate. "I better make sure I'm all packed, then." She ran off.
"Something tells me she's looking forward to living with Dark." Dan raised an eyebrow.
"She adores him." Danny shrugged. "She doesn't have the painful history with him that we do, she just sees a stronger ghost who is teaching her great things." He looked back at his food. "Being told about it and her actually being there to experience it are two way different things."
"Yes…" Plasmius frowned. "Being told and experiencing it…"
Danny glanced at him. "I should've warned you how graphic my memories were, I suppose."
Vlad frowned. "What's wrong?"
"Daniel allowed me to see his memories of their captivity. I…" Plasmius sighed and stood up. "I'm done eating." He walked out of the room.
"Yeah, me too." Danny got up and left the table.
"Are you going to leave as well?" Vlad asked.
"And leave you to eat alone? Nope." Dan smiled.
"Thank you." Vlad nodded, continuing to eat.