Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

Note (01/20/2018): Just to be safe, I'm sort of making up my own cleansing ritual because I don't want to get into anything too...accurately religious I guess. This is a supernatural story with a few biblical figures but I dunno, I felt weird researching actual cleansing methods. Weird huh? So anyway I'll be drawing some inspiration from DNAngel where the character Dark uses feathers in his spells. Figured it'd fit nicely in here since Owen is a necromancer and the familiars tied to his family are usually ravens or crows.

P.S. Don't forget to leave a review when you're done reading!

Note (01/22/2018): You know what? I felt guilty pulling the last-minute-Clockwork- interference card with sending the future Vlad over to talk to his past self so I've decided to re-write part of this chapter. Just like I hate over relying on things like time travel and amnesia to magically fix everything or give all the answers, I don't like relying too much on such an all knowing character such as Clockwork. I might do something along these lines later but this felt too soon and kind of...lazy on my part just randomly slapping that in there. Anyway if you've read the previous version I'm sorry for the sudden chance, as for the new readers I hope this version turns out better then the last. Oh and I'm renaming this chapter too from "Not A Moment To Lose" to what it is now below.

~Chapter 15~

Phantoms Of The Heart

(Chapter inspired by Duality by Set It Off)

"It's kind of bittersweet. The human spirit is not measured by the size of the act, but by the size of the heart." Yakov Smirnoff

After changing back into something more comfortable, Owen began making preparations for the cleansing ritual. Turns out there was more then one method to do this but Owen chose the one most familiar to him and the one Vlad deemed the most effective without looking too dangerous. He knew he shouldn't coddle the boy yet at the same time Vlad wished they could call in a professional despite how it might look if anyone caught wind of this. For now Vlad was just going to have to trust Owen like he promised to...

The first thing Owen did as soon as they got home was summon a raven which to Vlad's surprise came immediately to his beckoned call and affectionately nipped at his nose. Stroking its breast feathers, Owen asked, "Sorry but could I take some of your feathers? I need them for a cleansing ritual."

In response it simply ruffled said feathers and cawed, curling its head down as if to preen itself and plucked some feathers out. It probably wouldn't be enough but Owen took them anyway as it dropped them from its beak. As a reward Owen stroked it some more, kind of wishing he had some meat scraps or something instead, then sent it on its way back out the window.

"Have you always been able to do that?" Vlad asked mildly, closing the window and glancing back at Owen.

"What, communicate with ravens and crows? Yeah pretty much. They've always been naturally drawn to me and I used to enjoy feeding them at the local park near my house. My mom made me stop though when she found out, claiming they were wild and dirty animals. There was this one old guy too that saw them as bad omens and always chased them off that visited the same park. But they're not evil. Like most animals associated with magic and the occult people tend to...mistreat them," looking pained, Owen stared out the window, adding, "Still, at least the ghosts of animals are more honest then people and already know where they're meant to be...so its easier for them to let go of their grudges."

"Putting all of that aside, what are we supposed to do next?" Vlad asked in all seriousness.

Turning around, Owen started walking away and replied, "We go to the heart of this darkness and start from there. You're probably going to remember a lot of things you don't want to but...it's part of you being half ghost. It's not all about just having powers, it never was, it's also about feelings. And something else.."

Vlad knew he was right but it was still strange how right Owen was about him from the start, that he was in fact a vengeful spirit. It made sense when Vlad considered how classic ghost stories are told, although there were vast differences too since there was a science in how ghosts function too, making them more -for lack of a better word- tangible.

There was a truth in what Owen said a long time ago, that not everyone can become a ghost. For one thing, most humans when they died went somewhere unknown to Vlad. He was sure of it. Especially since human souls are so valuable and their life energy often fuels the powers of certain ghosts. Such as Ember for example whom even Vlad was familiar with, though he never understood why youngsters enjoyed that sort of peppy-pop sort of music. So it made that they would need a sanctuary from hostile ghosts and more importantly demons or Wraiths as Owen was starting to call them.

At any rate, the truth of the matter is that not all humans could become ghosts and not all ghosts were ever human to begin with. In fact, to Vlad's knowledge the majority of the ghosts in the Ghost Zone weren't previously human which was why they were so eager to come over to this side and take advantage of the energy that only the living could provide. It was almost similar to how demons ironically preferred to feed off of the negativity of ghost energy.

Once again Vlad was wrapped up in his thoughts while Owen set about placing the feathers in a circle and stood in the middle after carving several runes, one for each direction. Owen had chosen to change into a simple red turtleneck and slacks since he figured that this room was going to get very cold when he summoned all of the latent miasma in the building to one place. As for Vlad, he wasn't going to like what he saw, all of those painful reminders of what he had become and how it came to pass. But if they were ever going to move forward from this, Vlad would have to confront those feelings.

Owen was still unconvinced that all of this dark residue came from just Vlad. Some of it might be from his ghostly minions and accumulated into this thick haze over the years -similar to how random specters form in the Ghost Zone when enough ectoplasm gathers and creates a shadow of consciousness- or there could be something worse carefully concealing itself in the shadows waiting for its chance to strike.

Exhaling a deep breath, Owen mirrored what he did when he summoned that portal to call for Azrael and began chanting, "Lumen remanebit quidquam mali. Et relinquam in profundum laci de tenebris sciatur. Idcirco praecipio tibi ut forma revelare verum tuae. Ostende mihi faciem cordis de tenebris!" (In the light, nothing evil will remain. Leave the recesses of the dark and be known. I command you to reveal your true form. Show me the heart of the dark!)

Watching Owen actually perform a ritual like this was rather surreal. Sure, he had seen Owen perform smaller spells before but nothing like this if you didn't count when he banished the demoness that killed his informant looking for clues about Owen's lineage and tried to kill him and take Owen away. He knew Owen wasn't being overshadowed by his old memories again but somehow, Owen looked very natural and composed, as if he'd done this a million times before.

Vlad was about to ask how long this might take when his ghost sense went off and he stiffened, ready to transform when he looked over and saw that it was because Owen had unconsciously shifted into his other form. His eyes had fallen half-laden as the darkness that had previously been invisible to Vlad's eyes without Owen's help, began snaking across the floor as the circle of feathers had become a vacuum. Once enough of it gathered, the feathers lifted straight up, quill first, and started to glow, forming a small flame on top as if they'd transformed into candle sticks. Honestly Vlad wasn't sure which he felt strongest, the gathering darkness Owen was pulling towards himself, or the comforting warmth of Owen's flame that drew Vlad closer too.

He even took a step forward unconsciously too before catching himself and shaking his head, "As always there's a downside to Owen being a necromancer, even I find it difficult to resist his power nowadays. Other ghosts I can fight back against and assert my dominance, demons, I can destroy, but this...I'll just have to get used to it and not get lulled by its welcoming embrace. If Owen ever realized he-!"

A gasp escaped Vlad's lips when the darkness didn't take on human shape like The Grimoire stated that it would and instead began seeping into Owen's skin! Alarmed, Vlad rushed forward only to get blasted back by the cleansing circle. Vlad was sorely tempted to change into his ghost half but knew it would only make this more difficult so he tried to suppress his ghost half enough to get close enough to the circle to touch the barrier.

"Owen! I thought you said this cleansing ritual would be safe!" Vlad shouted, "You have to stop!"

"I can't stop once I've started," Owen explained airily. "There still so much we don't understand about this other form of mine, but now I figured out something when I was reading about how to perform this type of cleansing. The reason I looked like Nocturne before when he poured his power into me, it's because I was trying to cleanse his spirit with my necroenergy. The only reason I couldn't to it then is because my own spirit and body were too weak. The same goes for Venom's poison which invaded my necromancer form when I left my body behind. This is no different...you have to trust me on this. I'll be alright, I promise. Just don't break the circle no matter what you see or hear me say."

"But I...!" Vlad protested when his eyes widened in shock. While they were talking Owen's normally glowing blue arms slowly faded to a familiar electric pink and his white hair darkened to black like the hairline his lower on his neck. His skin faded to blue as well and his eyes went from two variants of blue to solid red.

As if sensing that it was no longer needed, The Grimoire burst into blue flames and transported itself outside of the circle, appearing on the counter beside Vlad. Owen tensed for a moment, resisting the invasion of Vlad's darkness in the form of this miasma until he gave into it to let the memories flow through his mind so that he would better understand how to erase it. Meanwhile, during the time his consciousness was walking through memory-lane, Owen's body became overshadowed by Vlad's old feelings and a feral grin spread over his cheeks.

"At last, all of the pieces are in place and that oaf Jack will be here soon," Owen laughed wickedly. "As they say, revenge is a dish best served cold..."

Stepping back from the circle reluctantly, Vlad turned away as if ashamed to hear his own words come out of Owen's mouth when said person rushed at the barrier, still grinning. "What's wrong V-man? Feeling a little guilty? As if you could ever feel anything real. Everything about you is fake. Admit it! Even now all that interests you is power!"

Familiar with this game now Vlad rolled his eyes, "Don't play coy with me, shadow. I know perfectly well you're just trying to provoke me."

"Oh? You've figured it out have you?" Owen cooed, leaning back and putting his hands behind his back in a very Vlad-like manner. "I wonder, how well do you really understand yourself Vladimir? I am you after all, and so is HE."

Gesturing behind Vlad, he glanced back ever so carefully and saw a version of himself from his college days looking tired and defeated, his hair stark white much like Danny's and his eyes were a pale misty blue.

"As if Maddie would ever accept a monster like me," the younger Vlad said, touching his terribly disfigured face which began bleeding.

Getting annoyed more then anything Vlad snapped, "No, if Jack hadn't hoarded all of her attention I would have stood more of a chance. If she has the capacity to accept her son Daniel someday, then surely she will accept me now that I've changed."

"Really? You think that she could possibly..." the younger Vlad asked hopefully when the dark one inside of Owen sneered.

"And there's the real Vlad we all know, the bald-faced liar! The worse lies you tell though are clearly to yourself though. You don't believe that even for a second. Which is precisely why you tried so hard to get Daniel to join your side. It was not only to protect the naive boy from the truth that his own parents would likely have disowned him or worse if they discovered his secret, but to claim the son that should have rightfully been yours," walking within the confines of the circle he continued coldly, "After all, why should that pathetic human man be blessed with a half-ghost son when you were already half ghost BECAUSE of the same man? He doomed his own son to suffering through the same half-life we did! Who knows what will become of us now. Will our human bodies wither and die with age like the rest of the human race? Or will we be cursed to wander the Earth as living corpses? Do you know? And what about Owen, will he remain with you that long or will he abandon you the moment his parents souls have been freed? Now that we have the perfect son, no one is going to take him away from us. Surely you feel the same? Now that you have him, aren't you afraid he'll realize what a monster you are and run away again...?"

Glancing at his college self, who looked equally curious as he was uncertain, the real Vlad crossed his arms and relented, "True, I did feel that way, and part of me still does in regards to my concerns for Daniel. You of all people -well shadows rather- should understand my concerns. When I realized just how much I had physically changed, I was devastated. And those first few people I tried to open up to looked at me with only fear and disgust despite all of the good I tried to do while discovering just what exactly I was capable of. That, along with the hatred I felt towards Jack and to some degree even Maddie for abandoning me was all that kept me going. But I don't need that hatred anymore, not when I have Owen now."

The younger Vlad, who up until then only stared unsurely between his older self and the possessed boy suddenly stepped closer to the circle and regarded Owen a bit more closely. "He...accepted me? After everything I've done, after all the monstrous things I've subjected him and Daniel to- What? Who in the world is Daniel? What is this?"

Narrowing his gaze dangerously at the other Vlad, the shadow Vlad scoffed, "The fact that YOU still exist astounds me really. I thought I smothered you a long time ago when I embraced the monster within. The real Vladimir knows that all too well. For all he knows, not all of the changes that happened would have if not for his feelings. Monsters aren't born, they are created. Even I know I'm not a demon, but I do know this-" glaring at both Vlad's his energy spiked and he snarled, "-try as you might you will NEVER be a hero. Even if you save him from Lilith, as you've seen already there will be others. So if you want to keep him safe then you must be willing to go past the limits you set for yourself long ago. You must purge any lingering weaknesses. That part of you IS weakness! Destroy him, and nothing will keep us from once and for all placing the fear of Plasmius into the world so that no one, not a ghost, human, or demon will ever take away what is rightfully yours. Isn't that the real reason you crave power? To prevent the same weakness that cost you Maddie when if you had only spoken sooner she would have-!"

When understanding dawned on him, the younger Vlad turned to his older self and said, "He's right, we're both a part of you and if only one of us survives, I want it to be my stronger half. I can't lose the person I care about the most. I refuse to entertain the possibility."

"What?" both the real Vlad and shadow Vlad asked in unison, taken aback by the college Vlad's bold declaration.

Seeing that both pairs of eyes were glue to him, the younger Vlad sighed and turned his back to them, "You both claim to be me yet you've already forgotten what it was like for us back then? We tried to be good, and when that didn't work we took the easy path. The path of evil. Besides, the truth of the matter is that we secretly hated Jack from the start since he was the only obstacle standing between us and courting Maddie ourselves. They had something we didn't, an existing connection. That's why we fought that much harder to create one only to find that it was all in vain. Truth be told we never stood a chance against the love between two childhood friends. The three of us only met in college after all and had bonded over a mutual fascination with ghosts and the supernatural. Nothing else connected us. We do however have a connection not only to this boy but also to this...Daniel. It frightens us thinking that once again someone will swoop in and take that from us. That's why, for his sake, I'd rather be the half that disappears again. The weak get brushed aside, but the strong hold on to the bitter end. So go on Vlad, do it! Choose now what kind of a half-ghost you want to be, a weak worthless one like me, or a strong and immovable one who is not afraid of being the one doing the taking?"