Disclaimer: I own nothing from Danny Phantom

Note: I meant to crank out another chapter sooner but things have been really hectic at home. I'm sure Danielle can relate. But I think this chapter turned out pretty well and I'm glad I managed to rearrange a few scenes from the old story in a way that still makes sense. Also, I'm looking forward to bringing back my genderbent Princess Dorathea, aka Prince Dorian since he was such a sweetheart back in the old version of this. Guess I have a sweet spot for chivalrous princely types too which I don't write about nearly as often as I should...


Chapter 2: Reluctance


Vlad's POV

After an insufferable number of delays, at last things were falling neatly into place once I had successfully, and legally, acquired Axion Labs. I also finished the last of the mansion's renovations in Amity Park and arrived in town late last night since I wanted to give Danielle the good news personally. I still had to manage my other businesses too of course, but those rarely required any direct intervention from me these days. Obviously I still kept a close eye on everything, but thankfully it is a well-known fact in the business world that very few people have made it out of their employment at one of my companies with their career's intact if they dared step out of line or insult me with their incompetence...

And this knowledge keeps most people on task.

Besides I've been running several successful enterprises for many years now so anyone who works under me should consider themselves lucky they get to stand so close to the top. I'm also hoping that by staying in Amity Park on a more long-term basis would also prevent Danielle from having to face so many problems on her own with all these blasted ghosts troubling her. Truth be told I am absolutely furious this keeps happening despite my best efforts to discourage them from making these attacks.

I've also noticed that Danielle's been pushing herself too hard again while trying to prove something to both herself and to me. But ultimately, I only want her to be safe. I know better than anyone how strong Danielle has become even if she can't measure her own progress, but that doesn't change the fact that she is the one person left in my life I consider worth protecting at any cost. Lately however Danielle's been...reluctant to admit she's struggling to keep her head above water as it were because she dislikes being treated like a child.

And that may be how it looks to her, but it couldn't be further from the truth. Danielle is certainly still young and inexperienced, maybe even a little naive, but even so I couldn't be prouder or happier after seeing with my own eyes how much she's grown since we first met. Despite the hardships Danielle has faced, they've made her stronger and with my help she will become stronger still. And then, once we've unleashed her true potential, Danielle will become neigh untouchable.

Checking my wristwatch again when I realized it was almost time for lunch which meant I should be hearing from Danielle soon. Because so long as Danielle wasn't in the middle of something else she has been very diligent in letting me know how many ghosts she had fought recently or if there were signs of other unusual paranormal activity in the area. I asked her to keep me informed about this because I wanted to see if there was any discernible pattern to be found in the recent string of ghost attacks.

Sadly, all we knew for sure is that most of the ghosts she has faced were merely overly-ambitious fools who targeted her simply because Amity Park is considered by many of them to be Dani Phantom's territory which meant they'd have to go through her to accomplish anything worthwhile in the human world. After all, it's one of the few places on Earth with a stable access point for them. Excluding my ghost portal of course which I take special care to keep a trade secret.

Just as the thought of Danielle crossed my mind again, I received a message from her right on cue. I was about to start reading it when the phone rang instead and according to the caller ID it was Danielle's parents. I didn't think much of it since I already let Maddie know I was in town and told her I wanted to surprise Jack by coming over for dinner tonight even though in truth I only wanted to see their daughter, Danielle. And this probably comes as no surprise, but she most certainly feels a lot more like MY daughter than theirs after everything we've been through together. So they're lucky I haven't given into my temptation to get my lawyers involved to make that a reality because I've come to accept that the special bond I share with my little badger is more than good enough.

"Vlad speaking," I answered, settling down in one of the sofas in the lounge while waiting for a response.

"Vlad it's Jack! Mads wanted me to call you right away since we have a big problem! Some spook showed up at Casper High today and stole Dani's voice! She can't say a thing. Even the doctors say they can't find anything wrong with her. Mr. Lancer told us he found her in the hallway gripping her throat since she could barely breathe. That's why we gotta find that ghost and get her voice back pronto. I won't let them get away with this!" After that Jack began ranting angrily about all the different way's he was going to make that ghost pay and for once we were in total agreement. How dare they hurt my little badger!

Recomposing myself so that my anger wouldn't show as obviously as his, I asked Jack seriously. "Would it be alright if I come to see Danielle? The truth is I'm in Amity Park at this very moment because I wanted to surprise you by taking your family out to dinner tonight. But if Danielle has been attacked then this is far more important so I'd like to help."

Grinding to a halt when Jack realized I was talking in the middle of his rant, Jack sputtered. "Huh? You are? I mean, yeah. That would be great V-man! We're on our way home from the hospital now and Dani's sleeping. The doctor gave her something to help with the pain but since there's not much else he said we could take care of Dani at home. We'll meet you there so see you soon Vladdy."

After that Jack hung up before I could say anything else which was a relief frankly since I really didn't want to listen to his obnoxious voice any longer than I had to. Still, it broke my heart to hear that something terrible had befallen Danielle once again on account of ghosts. I've said this before and I'll say it again, Jack is an idiot. Even now he and Maddie are oblivious to the horrors their daughter has suffered through and it's not until something happens to this extreme that the bother to take care of their child's needs...

And that's exactly why I'm here, to do what they're obviously still incapable of-

Doing their job.


Danielle's POV

After I dozed off in the back of the RV I had the most bizarre dream. The first thing I noticed there was that I could hear singing in the distance and I was standing on top of a dark lake that spread out as far as they eye could see in every direction. And even though the sky above me was dark and stormy the wind didn't seem to effect the water at all, it stayed perfectly smooth like glass even when I started walking across it to follow the sound of the voice, my voice echoing across the water.

The closer I got though, the darker it got until everything was pitch black.

"Great...now what am I supposed to-?!" I wondered out loud without thinking and gasped because, well, I actually said it!

Confused, I gently messaged my throat and sighed. "That's so weird, the cold feeling in my throat is gone so I guess that means I can still talk in my dreams at least. I mean, that's great and all but it's not going help me out there in the real world."

Looking around again, I spotted a small glimmer of light on the water and decided to head towards it since I didn't have any other leads. At first there was only one light but then I could see others spreading out from there to illuminate the darkness, reminding me of stars or fireflies.

Then I began to hear new voices whispering or crying out from that direction and saw what all the lights were coming from. They were coming from dozens of water lilies just like the one that ghost created inside of a glowing bubble and used to steal my voice. There were so many of them and each flower had these glowing veins that came in almost every color you can imagine. Seeing them made me absolutely furious because just how many other people has she done this to?!

And once I was close enough I could hear the voices saying things like-

...please, I didn't mean it when I said I never want to speak to him again...

...they never listened to what I had to say, and now they can't hear my voice at all because of HER...

...don't let her take it from you...

...drown out her voice, don't listen to her lies...

...why do my prayers still go unanswered, why...?

There were so many of them surrounding me that I couldn't even hear my voice singing anymore. Eventually I made up my mind to get away from the flowers since I knew I wouldn't be able to help them until I knew more about who I'm dealing with when all of a sudden I fell into the water, slowly sinking down into the darkness. But I wasn't about to let the dream drag me down without a fight so once I reoriented myself I looked up to find the lights again so I could get back to the water's surface.

But no matter how hard I swam, the lights got dimmer and the voices faded away until I had no choice but to give up now the only thing glowing in the murky darkness was me. At least I could breathe, or maybe I didn't have to because this was a dream. I was mulling over what to do next when I heard Vlad's voice calling my name which seemed awfully random.

Turning around wildly, I tried to figure out where his voice coming from but it was like it was coming from all of them or maybe I could hear it inside of my mind. But, was it some kind of trick? Or just another part of the dream? It's not like something like this hasn't happened to me before with someone playing some sort of sick mind games with me. Then again all those voices I heard before were definitely female, there wasn't a single guy hidden among them so maybe Vlad was trying to wake me up in the real world which made more sense.

After all, he does have a tendency to show up when I least expect it.

Closing my eyes, I tried to think of a way to wake myself up then they snapped open when a familiar pair of arms wrapped around me and I saw Vlad smiling at me with an oddly pleased sparkle in his eyes. "I can't believe it actually worked. Hello there little badger, miss me?"

"What worked? Vlad, how did you get here?" I asked, confused. "Are you...real?"

Instead of answering right away Vlad just held me tighter and answered. "Yes, don't worry I'm real. It looks like my theory was correct and you CAN still talk in your dreams. I wasn't sure how deeply that ghost's power had affected you so this was the only way for me to be sure."

"Wait a minute..." I blurted out when I realized he was the real Vlad which could only mean- "Does that means you're literally in my head right now?!"

Laughing softly at my reaction and patting my head, Vlad explained. "Dreams are gateways to the subconscious Danielle. And like any doorway or portal, there are plenty of ways for us to get to the other side with our ghost powers. So to answer your question I'm currently overshadowing your dream because I was hoping that we might be able to communicate directly like this. However, we can only do this as long as you stay asleep because if I tried to do the same thing while you're awake I would just end up taking over your body. If I did that, we wouldn't be able to have this conversation now would we?"

"No...I guess not, but it's still embarrassing." I pouted, gently pushing him away as I grumbled. "As happy as I am to see you Vlad I wish it wasn't because I screwed up again. It all happened so fast that I couldn't do anything to stop her! I don't know what she did to me either and now I can't even-"

Trailing off while rubbing my throat and glancing up at the small pin-pricks of light above us where the lilies were still floating aimlessly on top of the water, I continued angrily. "When she stole my voice it ended up inside some kind of weird water lily with glowing veins like the ones up there. Then she swallowed a glowing orb from it which let her use mine. Just before you showed up here in my dream, I saw dozens of flowers just like it floating on the water. They were all whispering to me, begging for help because it looks like she did the exact same thing to them. She stole their voices and had the nerve of treating it like a favor because no one was listening to them! It's so selfish!"

"Danielle, I understand how you feel but you need to slow down a bit my dear." Vlad chided softly, cupping his hands on my cheeks as he pressed his forehead to mine. "Remember. This is only a dream. Time doesn't exist here so there's no need for you to blurt out everything at once. Besides which, we don't want you waking up and accidentally kicking me out before we finish getting to the root of the problem. Now, take a deep breath and let's try this again."

As soon as I calmed down, Vlad leaned back and nodded in approval before getting right back to business with a confident smile. "That's my girl. So tell me, did you happen to catch her name? If not then did she have any distinct features you can remember or say anything that might help us identify this ghost?"

Crossing my arms, I thought back on our encounter and told him. "I didn't catch her name, but she did bring up something about Sirens and how shes been collecting voices for a long time. What the hell is a Siren anyway? Is it some kind of underwater creature?"

"It depends on the myth." Vlad explained thoughtfully. "Usually Sirens are depicted as either birdlike creatures or mermaids of a sort in Greek mythology with the power to mesmerize and lead sailors to their deaths by tricking them into crashing their ships onto the rocky shores then drowning. Honestly, given how this ghost 'collects' voices that would suggest she doesn't have that sort of power so it stands to reason she may actually be a Banshee."

"You mean those screaming ladies in white dresses people dress up as for Halloween?" I asked just to clarify.

Vlad nodded. "Yes. Banshee's are the souls of murdered young women in Celtic or Irish legend. Depending on their temperament or the circumstances behind their demise, many of them become a sort of guardian spirit that warns of an impending death in the family and sing sorrowful songs to their loved ones to express their love and concern which only the one marked for death can hear. Others, as you can imagine, become much more violent and their shrieks can cause extreme pain, even death. In extreme cases, they've been known to drive people mad. Very few can hear their voices either way which are little more than a whisper apart from that."

"Ugh...that sounds like a really crappy afterlife, not gonna lie." I frowned, adding bitterly. "But that's no excuse to steal the voices of other girls! So when I wake up, let's go kick her ass!"

I grinned, feeling the itch to hit something very hard for dramatic effect but then I had to remind myself that this was a dream and out there I still couldn't talk and I groaned, rubbing the back of my neck. "So what now? How are we supposed to find her? The last time I saw that Banshee bitch she had disappeared into a burst of bubbles after saying she was going straight back to the Ghost Zone which doesn't help narrow things down at all. I bet she's there right now 'testing out' my voice. God that's SO creepy but I guess as long as she doesn't start making prank phone calls with it we should be fine...for now."

"Well first of all I think you should wake up since your parents are probably wondering where I 'disappeared' to." Vlad pointed out, although he sounded a bit reluctant to leave. "I just need to leave your dream beforehand though so you don't send me flying into the nearest wall by mistake. Even I would have a hard time explaining that to Jack and Maddie. At any rate, I'll see you soon, little badger."

And with that, his image flickered until Vlad vanished completely and I could tell he wasn't inside my dream anymore. His absence made the water around me seem so much colder and lonelier, but I shook my head because it didn't matter. I've finally told him my side of the story and as long as he keeps his word this time about not going overboard then there wouldn't be a problem. No, the only problem I had to deal with now was going right back to square one with my voice gone again.


Vlad's POV

I didn't have to wait long for Danielle to come to after I left her dreams and returned to my human form; it was such a surreal experience and part of me wondered why her dreams seemed to echo some of her experiences with certain ghosts. For instance, when Freakshow was controlling her it created a telepathic bond between them through his foul blood magic which allowed her to see the moment of his death in her nightmares and then later when Freakshow himself became a ghost he, in turn, invaded her dreams. And now, after this Banshee stole Danielle's voice, in her dreams just now she was able to tap into those memories and hear the voices of others whose voices had been stolen in a similar fashion...

So then, could Danielle somehow indirectly connect to any ghost who interferes with her a little too closely? Well, we certainly can't have that. The only ghost, or half-ghost rather meant to be close to her is me. And anyone who dares harm Danielle to such an extent will have to answer to me or risk meeting a fate far worse than their original deaths.

Brushing her hair back as Danielle blearily opened her eyes, she sat up and was about to call out to me but stopped herself and looked away sadly, remembering that she couldn't speak outside of her dreams. But at least Danielle didn't look too distraught about it which was a relief and I stepped back while she stretched a bit.

When Danielle caught me staring at her, I gave her a coy smile and told her she reminded me of a cat just now waking up from a nap with that gaping yawn of hers. Rolling her eyes in response, Danielle picked up the notebook on her desk and used a blue sharpie to write. 'Would you mind checking if dinner is ready?'

"Ah that's right." I commented mirthfully, going along with her extremely obvious diversion. "You wound up in the hospital before lunch and never got the chance to eat anything, didn't you?"

She nodded and sat back down on the bed which reminded me that I promised her father I'd give her a brief medical exam so I asked politely. "That reminds me, would you mind if I examined your throat for a moment? Jack asked me to see if I could find anything...ghostly about your condition since I've obviously had experience with that sort of thing myself. Since I'm already here we might as well take care of that before he gets any bright ideas about doing it himself with those big clumsy hands of his."

Shooting me a skeptical look Danielle shrugged and waited patiently while I brought over the chair from her computer desk to use. I obviously didn't have any medical equipment with me, but even without them I would be able to feel for any abnormal swelling so I placed my fingers on either side and applied a little pressure, gently massaging the area. Without thinking to ask her for permission first I decided to try something with my ghost powers to examine the problem another way and sent a small pulse of my electrical ghost energy through her. Then suddenly, I saw Danielle's throat flash with a small red light and she hissed in pain, recoiling from me.

Concerned, I pulled my hands away and apologized. "I'm terribly sorry, I should have warned you before I did that. Does it hurt?"

Swallowing slowly to test how she felt, Danielle rubbed her throat a few times before she started scribbling on her notepad and showed me what she wrote. 'It stung a little bit, but I'm fine. Don't worry.'

"That's a relief. At any rate, I found out all that I need to for now so I'll be back shortly. Oh, and one more thing." Giving Danielle a serious look I told her sternly. "I know what you're thinking Danielle and no, I don't think it's a good idea for you to try fighting ghosts like this under any circumstances. Until this is resolved, I'll make sure this town doesn't fall apart, alright? I'll just have to send Skulker and Vallen out to do some bounty hunting for me in the meantime..."

On a lighter note I added. "Besides, I'm going to be living here too starting today. Wouldn't want any ghosts taking over Amity Park before I do."

As soon as I finished saying this the look on her face was priceless as Danielle beamed up at me and she practically flew out of bed to hug me tightly, clearly excited about the prospect of seeing me in person a lot more often from here on out to train and tutor her. Clearly, the news made Danielle very happy even in light of the current circumstances. And so in return I hugged her back just as tightly, my heart overflowing with love for this brave girl I only met a few short months ago that now feels like the new center of my world...

And I'd do anything to protect that warm smile of hers, anything at all.