Disclaimer: I own nothing from Danny Phantom


Note: To "Dp-Marvel94" yeah, I really liked that idea from the old story so I kept it in. And thanks for all your recent reviews btw, still weird I'm not getting emails about them for some reason. Anyways, it's a shame that Vlad's decided to act on his own in this chapter which is only going to piss Danielle off more and make her do something reckless just to spite the selfish fruitloop. You'd think he'd learn by now not to underestimate her stubbornness.


Chapter 3: Ostensible


Danielle's POV

Without my voice, it took the whole 'eating in silence' expression to a whole new level. Vlad seemed perfectly fine with it as he sat across from me since my parents insisted on trying to have a 'normal' dinner to keep my spirits up. Nobody said much mostly because they didn't want me to feel bad since I couldn't reply which I actually appreciated a lot. Jace kept shooting me these weird looks though like he knew something was up but I tried to ignore it since he's always been a worry wart.

After dinner was finally over Vlad pulled my parents aside to talk to them some more as a concerned friend and at the same time Jace pulled me aside too. It was totally unexpected he suddenly dragged me upstairs after loudly declaring that he was going to be looking after me. I just barely had enough time to shoot Vlad a confused look before we were both dragged off in different directions, my parents pulling him down into the lab to figure out some ghost mambo-jumbo while my brother dragged me upstairs and sat me down on the edge of his bed, looking dead serious.

"Alright, enough is enough Dani. This is starting to get out of hand. I've kept silent about it ever since I found out the truth about you but we need to talk. Well, I mean, you need to listen to what I have to say since you can't talk and- ugh sorry just...hold on a second. I'll go grab your notepad." He sighed, shooting me a warning look that told me to stay put if I knew what was good for me then Jace rushed off to grab it from my room real quick and then handed my notepad to me.

Crossing his arms Jace took a deep breath and decided not to confuse me with an overly complicated explanation as usual and said bluntly. "Dani, I know your secret. And before you start panicking I want you to know that honestly, I don't expect you to stop doing what you do to protect everyone from ghosts, but you HAVE to start being more careful since I don't want our parents or Vlad finding out you're half-ghost too because it will only complicate things."

I stared at him in shock, a million questions running through my head but the biggest of them was HOW the actual HELL did Jace find out?! And when did he find out? I thought I already had been so careful about making sure I'm alone whenever I transform so no one who knows me apart from Sam and Trish sees me transform! Biting my lip I looked up at my brother again just to make sure he was serious, but when I realized he was my shoulders slumped and I wrote 'How long have you known?'

His eyes softening since Jace wasn't trying to blackmail me or anything by telling me he knew my secret, he sat down beside me, wrapped an arm around my shoulder, and sighed. "Since the Spectra thing. I hadn't seen you that upset in a long time so I was worried about you after you run off so I followed to try fix the misunderstanding we had. But then you suddenly just...changed right in front of me and flew off into the air like it was completely normal. At first, I didn't know what to think because I wasn't ready to believe ghosts were real even with all the weirdness that's been going on at our school.

"Ever since then, I've seen you around a few times as this 'Dani Phantom' and you're always protecting and helping people which would explain why you're always running off somewhere or you can barely stay awake in class. Listen, I may not know how long you've been doing this exactly, but this isn't the first time a ghost has put you in serious danger. I mean you were almost kidnapped by one once!"

I nodded and silently waited for him to continue and when he did, Jace gave my shoulder an affectionate squeeze and continued. "Dani, I'm not going to lie, the real reason I stayed in school for an extra year wasn't just to get more credits before I apply for college, I did it so I could make sure you're going to be alright once I leave Amity Park to begin college. You're my little sister whether you're half ghost or not and while I know I won't be able to cover for you anymore here at home, I want you to know I'll always be on your side. Just promise me you'll be much more careful from now on if you plan to keep fighting ghosts. And as much as I trust him it might not be a good idea to tell Vlad what you are in case he's anything like our parents. Personally I kinda doubt it but you can't be too careful."

I had to resist the urge to laugh because little did Jace know that not only did Vlad already know my secret, but he's half-ghost too. Either way, since I wasn't exactly sure what to do with this new information I decided to switch gears and asked him a question instead. 'You're not mad about me lying to you this whole time, are you?'

"No. I'm not mad." Jace replied, pushing down my notepad after I held it up to for him to read. "I know you had a good reason to hide the truth from me, especially from mom and dad given how they talk smack about ghosts all the time. But even if I knew you were half-ghost from the start or that you've been fighting ghosts and told you not to for your own safety you'd still keep doing it regardless of how dangerous it is."

Smiling, Jace continued. "You're a good person Dani and even when no one thanks you for it you're always taking care of other people to the point where you end up forgetting to take care of yourself. That's why I'm so happy that Vlad started helping you and you finally found someone to rely on other than me. But now that I know there's a lot more going on in your life than just the usual teen drama I want to do as much as I can for you too. So if there's anything I can do for you, will you promise to tell me instead of trying to handle it all by yourself?"

He's got a point there. In fact, maybe there's a way Jace can help me with something right now before Vlad comes back! I thought to myself.

After that, I beamed at him and started doodling a picture of what that Banshee looked like. I also added little dash marks so I could add a few notes to describe some of the other features I couldn't show him with a sharpie drawing. And once Jace took a good look at it, I pointed to my question at the bottom that read 'You wouldn't happen to know anything about Banshee's, would you? Because I think that's the kind of ghost that stole my voice...'


The nice part about Vlad being stuck downstairs with my parents is that it gave Jace and I plenty of time to do some research of our own at the same time. Plus, it was surprisingly easy working with him rather than hiding what I'm up to as usual and a huge relief that Jace didn't see me as some kind of freak. To him, I'm the same dorky little sister he grew up with and looked after pretty much my whole life when our parents were too wrapped up in their ghost hunting to pay much attention to either of us...

Obviously, Jace was curious about what else I could do with my ghost powers besides fly, but that would have to wait until I got my voice back so I could explain the rest to him. Still, overprotective or not, I was lucky to have a brother like Jace. He made me feel like there was at least one person in this family that cares about me more than ghosts. Well, besides my friends and Vlad obviously.

Anyways, we found out a lot more than I expected about Banshee's because it turns out that most of their kind are from Ireland and are normally considered either ghosts or fairies. As far as I could tell though, those voices the Banshee I met stole were all taken from people who low-key didn't want to talk anymore, even if it was for only a moment, which seemed unrelated to the legends. And given what happened to me I had a feeling she couldn't use more than one voice at a time. So if we could trick her into trying to steal another voice that was 'better' than mine I could get mine back by finding the right flower in her 'collection.' She seemed to like the voices of talented singers the most which means maybe I could-

Startled when there was a sudden knock on the door Jace closed the web page we were looking at while I hastily ripped out the pages of my notebook with the Banshee drawing and ghost-related stuff written on it and tossed them into the trash can. It was already overflowing with papers since he was working on some kind of report so a few more shouldn't stand out too much. I was half-expecting it to be Vlad at the door which is why I didn't want him knowing I was planning on getting my voice back on my own, but thankfully it was just our mom.

She gave us a curious look when we both gave her an innocent smile that children usually give their parents when they're hiding something. But she decided to ignore it and told us to come downstairs since Vlad had something to tell us. After exchanging a slightly worried look with my brother, we followed her downstairs. I wasn't too worried about what he had to say since Vlad was probably just going to do his usual thing to convince my parents to let me stay at his place again until this smoothed over.

Truth be told, I was kind of excited by the idea of spending quality time with Vlad again somewhere I could relax and not have to fight ghosts for a little while again. Thankfully he's really good at getting my parents on his side since dad practically worships the ground he walks on and mom thinks he's the best uncle anyone could possibly ask for after Vlad found out where Freakshow had taken me when I was kidnapped and returned me home safely.

However, I was shocked when Vlad did the exact opposite of what I expected him to say and my jaw dropped when he said. "Alright, now that everyone is here I would like to explain what we're going to be doing about Danielle's latest predicament. As you may already know, I have a lot more experience with ghosts of a more...mythical nature than Jack and Maddie and since I believe this ghost was, in fact, a Banshee. That's why I will be personally be taking responsibility for capturing this ghost in order to reclaim Danielle's voice on my own."

Turning towards my brother and me, Vlad explained bluntly. "As for you two, since the safety of your house and the school seem to have both been compromised your parents have decided that it would be best for you to stay with me for a while. At least until I've captured this voice thief."

What the-? Vlad, why the hell are you dragging my brother into this? Are you hoping he'll stop me from sneaking off to get my voice back without your help? I mean, you're not wrong but still, nice try buddy! Too bad I've already got Jace on my side so ha! I snickered to myself, already coming up with a plan so I could make sure Vlad didn't sneak off to the Ghost Zone without me instead.

Before all this, I had made up my mind to leave the fighting to Vlad but now, the fact that he was using my brother as cover so he could keep me from following after him, well it only made me want to go into the Ghost Zone even more just to prove him wrong about me being helpless in my current state. There was clearly something else going on behind the scenes that Vlad didn't want me to know about, I could feel it which meant it was time for me to step up my game and show Vlad I can still fight even without my voice. Instead, I would let my fists do the talking for me to teach that Banshee a lesson she'll never forget...


Vlad's POV

An unexpected opportunity presented itself while I was discussing matters with Danielle's parents and I would have been a fool to ignore it. While still thinking of the best way to keep her out of trouble while I'm gone searching for the Banshee's lair in the Ghost Zone, I was taken aback when her brother Jason pulled Danielle aside rather abruptly of his own volition after dinner. However, his brotherly concern for her is also what gave me the brilliant idea of using him to keep her occupied. Danielle was understandably shocked by the news that he would be staying with us too, however, recovering her voice was my first priority and I didn't want to risk the chance of her getting hurt if I brought her with me in this condition.

I of course planned to make this up to her eventually, but for now, I would just have to put up with Danielle's disapproving looks until I finished taking care of things myself. It pained me knowing she was upset with me for doing this, however, when I later tried to catch her alone for a minute or two to explain myself while Danielle was packing her things I noticed her smoothing out a few crumpled up pieces of paper on her desk which she then folded and tucked away into her bag.

That's odd, aren't those pages from the notebook Danielle's been using to communicate with us...? Why would she feel the need to hide some of them from me? What could she have possibly written there? I wondered silently to myself, growing suspicious Danielle was trying to keep secrets from me too.

My suspicions that Danielle was up to something only deepened when I saw her tuck away one of her parents anti-ghost weapons inside her bag too which made no sense to me given how we have our ghost powers to keep us safe. But then I realized that Danielle probably only wanted to make sure she had a way to protect herself and her brother should something happen without resorting to transforming and I relaxed a little after that. Still, that didn't explain what was written on those once discarded pages...


Once everything was settled, the trip back to the mansion was uneventful apart from Danielle's brother asking numerous questions about why I decided to move here. The questions themselves seemed innocent enough, but my intuition told me he was fishing for information. Not that it mattered because to me it seemed as if Jason was just wondering why I've gone to such lengths to protect their family, Danielle especially.

His questions were valid I suppose, so I revealed just enough of the truth to make my reasons believable. I told Danielle part of this before although the only part I left out is that I still retain at least some resentment for Jack, although the reason behind it has changed a great deal. Now, more than his foolish actions that made me what I am today and the fact that he stole my chance to be with Maddie, it was his blatant disregard for the safety of his family and the neglect towards his children that bothered me the most. Especially where Danielle is concerned since she's under a lot more pressure than her brother to inherit Fenton Works once Jack and Maddie retire...

Retire from what though? Tinkering with half-baked inventions they hardly use to ACTUALLY do their job to fight ghosts? And those very same inventions were objects they wouldn't dream of selling to the public for fear of the government stealing their secrets. Oh yes, that's quite the legacy Danielle had to live up to. But at least she's actually doing their job in secret, ghost hunting that is, and even without using most of their inventions to help her since she already far surpassed them in skill and overall reliability in defeating ghosts on her own.

They had their moments, I'll give them that and deep down they care deeply for their children. But caring and actually doing something to help them grow up in a stable environment were two entirely different matters. That's why I've been all too happy to take action myself in to help ease her burden, if only a little. And my actions thus far have done wonders for Danielle confidence if I do say so myself. I could care less if Jack and Maddie are happy having me around again as long as Danielle is the one who wants me around the most as a sort of second father-

"Vlad? Did you hear me or not?" Jason asked unsurely when I got caught up in my musings instead of replying to his question.

"Sorry about that my boy, I was just thinking of how best to answer your question. It's actually a bit more complicated than you'd think." I smiled, my gaze drifting over to Danielle who must have nodded off again at some point while we were talking.

Taking a moment to collect my thoughts again I continued. "When I invited your parents to our 20th college reunion, all I wanted to do was reconcile with them after that terrible accident that put me in the hospital for years. I thought if we talked about it face to face I would finally be able to let go of that resentment I felt for being abandoned by both of them. But most of all, I wanted an apology from Jack for what he put me through since we were friends once.

"I knew it wouldn't be easy, but then I met your sister and after hearing that Danielle had an accident similar to my own concerning a ghost portal, I felt it was only right that I share my experiences with her to help her the way I wish someone would have helped me. I suppose that's why I took an instant liking to Danielle. Besides, while I've never been married it was always a dream of mine to have children. As you can probably imagine thought, when you have as much money and power as I do it is difficult to find someone who sees the man behind it all as a human being and not just a means to an end to exploit rather than love..."

Nodding, Jason smiled at his sister too and told me. "Yeah, Dani's a very special girl that's for sure. It hasn't always been easy for us growing up, but its nice that she has someone else she can turn to besides-"

His smile fading, Jason trailed off and reached over to gently maneuver Danielle so she could rest her head on his lap instead of uncomfortably leaning against the window. His gaze was so warm and kind, but there was a hint of turmoil hidden behind them that worried me...

"What is it, my boy? You seem troubled." I pointed out and Jason looked up at me sharply, his eyes narrowed in a serious but not hostile manner.

"I know what I'm about to say isn't going to make much sense but...can you promise me something? If anything...bad happens to me or if our parents find out something about Dani I know they won't like, will you promise me you won't reject her, no matter what?"

I nodded but let him continue since he clearly had more to say. "Dani is...she's very sensitive to what other people think of her even if it doesn't seem like it. And she always tries to do the right thing no matter how cruel the people she helps might be sometimes. I love my parents, but sometimes they're the most cruel when they ignore all the good Dani's done for the people around her, including you..."

Snickering, Jason admitted. "When I first met you I wasn't in the best mood and not to be mean but I also had this impression that you were just another selfish rich guy showing off how rich and powerful you were at first just to impress us. But when you came all the way here to save my sister when that circus ghost kidnapped her I realized I was wrong about you. Or at the very least you were starting to change."

"Yes, well-" I chortled. "Truth be told I AM a very selfish man because since I don't see myself starting a family of my own any time soon I've more or less adopted yours and think of Danielle as a daughter and you as a son. That's why I've gone to such lengths to ensure your safety along with your sister's since I know your parents can handle themselves in most situations. True they get carried away at times or lose themselves in their work, but they love you both very much, if they didn't they wouldn't be putting your safety in my hands. Although why Danielle is such a prime target to these ghosts I'll never understand."

Meeting his gaze and with every ounce of conviction I could muster short of telling him I would actually make Danielle my daughter if I could, I said. "So to answer your main question my boy, the reason I bought Axion Labs which has most of the world's most advanced technology is because it is my deepest desire to utilize their resources to protect you, your family, Danielle, and the rest of this town from the threat ghosts pose since we're one of the few places in the world that know they are, in fact, quite real. I cannot sit idly by knowing everyone here is almost constantly in danger despite your parents best efforts to keep them at bay which is why it seems only right that I lend them a helping hand, wouldn't you agree?"