Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom.

Note: Well, it's the moment of truth. Welcome to the first officially rewritten chapter of my oc Owen Ravenwood's story, Nevermore. It's been 5 years since I re-entered the phandom thanks to his creation after I re-watched the show from start to finish for the first time in years. A lot has happened since then, both good and bad, but I'd like to believe I've come a long way since then!

That said, the core elements of this story aren't going to change all that much since the main focus has always been about Vlad adopting Owen once they become closer and he realizes how badly this kid needs his help. Especially after uncovering the truth behind his strange powers. I've made you guys wait long enough for his journey to finally come full circle so I sincerely hope you enjoy reading this!

P.S. Oh, and feel free to check out his old stories "The Grimoire" and "Ravenheart" too if you'd like a basic overview of what's going on or want to compare it to this new and improved version! Just a heads up though, I'm keeping a few of the darker themes around in this story regarding near death experiences and other trauma so be sure to brace yourselves for lots of teen angst!

Chapter 1: The Boy Who Cried Ghost

Vlad's POV

Its a rare occurrence for me to have to play the role of a magnanimous public figure, and yet there I was visiting a group home known as Mistveil. An odd name to be sure, but I paid it no mind. After all, this place was but one of many foster care facilities I planned to donate to to boost my ratings and since this was the least conspicuous out of all of them I saw no harm in visiting it in person. Not to mention I was already well prepared for the onslaught of questions from both the reporters and children there.

Mind you there were a handful of teenagers scattered among them, but as fate would have it there was one boy in particular who stood out from the rest. I noticed him sitting in the back row thanks in no small part to the wild yet strikingly white hair on top of his head, which as I'm sure you can imagine reminded me a great deal of Daniel. Of course, my first assumption was that he was just another rebellious teenager who had bleached his hair white as some sort of absurd fashion statement. Either that or he was an avid fan of Danny Phantom and wanted to emulate him.

However neither of those things turned out to be true.

After the assembly I found out that the boy's unusual appearance was actually the result of partial albinism, a condition he had apparently been born with. He wore a simple dark red hoodie inlaid with white fabric, a pair of dark gray pants, black shoes, and most of his hair was stark white like freshly fallen snow while the rest was pitch black. His eyes on the other hand -which at first glance could have easily been mistaken for brown- were actually crimson due to the fact that they had no color pigment in them meaning only the red blood vessels were visible.

The director and I were walking past the lounge area on our way back to his office to discuss a few things in private when I happened to notice the same young man sitting alone at a table reading a book with an uncharacteristically contemplative expression on his face. I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that any teenager in their right mind would willingly choose to read a book over playing videogames with his friends. Or perhaps he was one of those Goth types much like Daniel's friend Samantha.

Curious, I stopped the director and asked what that boy was still doing here when I had already gone out of my way to rent out an entire arcade for the Mistveil children to play in so they wouldn't be underfoot during the rest of the tour. Quickly realizing that Owen must have slipped away from the rest of the group the elder gentleman answered with a heavy sigh, narrowing his gaze and pushing up his glasses. "That's Owen Ravenwood. Honestly, I can't believe he actually had the audacity to sneak off like this. He's usually so well-behaved. I'll tell him to wait in his room so he won't get in the way then decide on an appropriate punishment for his bad behavior."

Raising my hand dismissively as he moved to enter the room I scoffed. "There's no need for that. I'm sure a lot of children go through a similar rebellious stage, especially boys at this age. He's, what? Thirteen? Fourteen?"

"Fifteen actually. But he'll be turning sixteen in a few weeks." The director answered without thinking, his gaze turning somber. "We've tried placing him many times but things just never seem to work out. I genuinely don't understand why it keeps happening since Owen is generally a good kid despite everything he's been through. Especially considering what happened to his parents..."

"And by that you mean...?" I asked expectantly.

Shaking his head, he told me grimly. "It's not my place to be spreading gossip around like this but when he first came to us Owen kept blaming their untimely deaths on ghosts of all things. He just couldn't accept the truth that they had suffered some kind of a mental breakdown and attempted a family suicide. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you."

My eyes flew wide open in shock. Of all the responses the director could have given me regarding Owen's tragic past, that was not what I expected to hear. Not in the slightest. Furthermore there was no way for me to verify if his claim was true or not since it happened a long time ago by the sounds of it. But on the other hand, unbeknownst to him I just so happen to know that ghosts actually do exist...

After all, I am one.

Well, half ghost at any rate.

Assuming I wouldn't find much time to speak to Owen again later without constant interruptions from the younger children, keeping my tone casual and business-like I asked politely. "If it's not too much trouble would you mind if I have a quick word with him? I have some time to spare before my next appointment and I'd like to use this opportunity to ask Owen a little more about this place since the other children I spoke to earlier were a bit difficult to understand since they kept talking over one another so it would be nice to get a clearer answer from someone a little older."

Thinking about it for a minute the director finally nodded and replied. "Well...I suppose I don't see the harm in that. In the meantime I'll go make sure no one else decided to play hooky. I'll be back shortly but if I'm not for whatever reason then you are more than welcome to tell Owen to show you the way back to my office. Please excuse me."

Grumbling something under his breath about telling the kids to be on their best behavior today of all days as he left, I watched the director make his exit before turning my attention back to Owen. To my surprise, I noticed the boy visibly tense the moment I approached him. Perhaps he heard us talking and knew he had been caught but tried to pretend he was still engrossed in his book.

Placing my hand on his shoulder and smiling, I chuckled. "Doing a bit of light reading are we?"

I felt him involuntarily flinch beneath my touch before Owen loudly sighed in exasperation, placed a bookmark between the pages, shut the book, and pointedly shrugged me off. Glancing up at me irritably, he asked. "What do you want?"

"I just want to talk, that's all. Why so defensive? If it's because you were caught ditching don't worry because I already asked the director to let it slide just this once. The assembly must have either been so dreadfully boring you couldn't take it anymore or whatever you're reading is so good you couldn't put it down and simply wanted to take advantage of the peace and quiet." I answered, ignoring his curt response since I was already used to getting the same kind of abrasive attitude from Daniel.

Shooting me a sharp glare, to my astonishment Owen shot up from his chair and snapped. "You do realize there were plenty of other ways you could have approached me, right? I don't know why you decided to overshadow Vlad Masters of all people, but taking over the body of a multi-billionaire is anything but subtle so do yourself a favor and leave him out of this. I can't help you anyway so you're wasting your time."

Ah that's right, Owen already believes in ghosts. Either that or he's actively pretending to 'see them' to get attention. How naive. I thought to myself, mildly amused by the irony of that statement. Well two can play at that game.

Deciding to play along with his delusion I reassured him. "My boy, I really don't have the faintest idea what you're talking about. I understand what it's like to be treated like an outcast, but aren't you taking this little charade of yours a bit too far? I've heard you are a very intelligent young man so I believe we both know there is no such thing as ghosts. But even if they do exist in some form you'll have to do more than make slanderous accusations towards a complete stranger to prove it."

"You want proof? Fine." Owen replied, sounding annoyed once again and for a moment I thought I had successfully disproven his lies about actually quote 'seeing ghosts' until he suddenly snatched my wrist with surprising strength and I felt an odd tingling sensation ripple up my arm.

In a matter of seconds, a small transformation ring appeared at my fingertips and rapidly began sliding down my arm to reveal the black gloves I wear in my ghost form. But this-this is impossible! Is he…forcing me to transform?! I gaped, wrenching my hand away from him which immediately returned to normal.

Staring at Owen with a dumbfounded expression since I've never encountered anyone like him before I listened as he continued angrily. "The real Mr. Masters might not believe in ghosts, but this is proof enough that they do since you're one of them. Now, are you going to tell me what you want or not? If not then get lost because I don't want anything to do with ghosts anymore! How many times to I have to tell you that before you guys finally LEAVE ME ALONE?!"

Not wanting to let the situation escalate any further than it already had I decided to rely on one of my oldest tricks by creating a duplicate I flew out of just as the 'real' Vlad collapsed, who was in actuality my duplicate in human form. Surprised, Owen attempted to catch 'me' as the duplicate fell but since he couldn't support his weight they both landed on the ground with a dull thud. He wasn't there for long though before I pulled him up by the back of his hoodie, similar to grabbing the scruff of a cat...

Smiling wickedly at him as I watched Owen squirm, I mused thoughtfully. "Now isn't this interesting? Tell me, how exactly DID you sense my presence? And more importantly, how did you manage to force me to reveal myself like that? You clearly have some sort of innate gift -possibly of a magical sort- but the question is what? You're obviously not a ghost yourself or a psychic, so what are you...?"

"Like you don't already know! Now let go of me you creep!" Owen growled, still struggling to break free which reminded me so much of my first encounter with Daniel when he was just as hopelessly outmatched.

"Oh, I think not. I'm afraid you brought this upon yourself, my boy." I pointed out since it really would have been in his best interest to pretend he hadn't noticed anything strange about me in which case I wouldn't have discovered Owen had supernatural powers at all.

I've heard of such things in the past in my studies of the paranormal, such as talk of witches and spiritual mediums that weren't just pretending to have powers either, but to stumble across the genuine article is something else entirely. Still, it was only a matter of time before the director returned so since I had no more time for games I admitted nonchalantly. "I hate to disappoint you, but I haven't the slightest clue who you are. After hearing your sad story however, I'll admit it got me curious..."

Glancing at the door and listening for the sound of approaching footsteps, I continued. "Unfortunately, since I can't have you revealing my secret to anyone we're going to have to take a little trip down memory lane together and you're going to forget this chance meeting of ours ever happened. I do commend your courage though in openly confronting me like that. Not many people outside of the profession of ghost hunting would dare expose a ghost without the means to defend themselves so try not to take this too personally."

After that the plan was simple.

Overshadow Owen long enough to blur his memories so he wouldn't remember most of our conversation and then wait for the director to return. No harm no foul and then I could look into his background more in my own time. However, no sooner had I dropped Owen, turned intangible, and flew forward to overshadow him before I was violently and unexpectedly struck by some invisible force which threw me back into the opposite wall.

It took me a moment to recover because whatever had hit me was incredibly painful! Not even that blasted Specter Deflector of Daniel's could compare to this unfamiliar stinging sensation, almost like an allergic reaction to something. Staring at Owen once again in awe and disbelief I thought. Forcing me to transform is one thing, but having powers that are capable of actually preventing me from taking control of him? Just who on earth is this boy?!

Grunting after recovering from the impact as well, Owen looked over at me with a furrowed brow like he was just as confused as I was before he said. "Hold on. You didn't seriously forget that I can't be overshadowed, did you? That can't be right. Didn't the others warn you about that? Then you're really not another one of those ghosts that's recently been asking me non-stop to show them the way to the light or whatever?"

"As curious as I am about who you THOUGHT I was, I'm afraid we're out of time. Let's wrap this up, shall we? I am a very busy man," I retorted venomously, floating close enough to him to hover menacingly over Owen since I was no longer in a playful mood.

Looking down at the human duplicate of me laying on the ground beside him then back up at my ghost form, Owen took a deep breath and surprised me by apologizing in a dejected tone. "You know what? It doesn't really matter anyway. If you've got some sort of deal going on with Mr. Masters that's really none of my business. I'm sorry I hurt you, but as long as you're not here to bother me or hurt anyone then I don't mind pretending this never happened because I really don't want anything to do with ghosts anymore. Period."

Clenching his fists and averting his gaze, Owen continued bitterly. "I never asked to be like this. No matter where I go, death follows me and I don't understand why."

Rolling my eyes at his little speech, I crossed my arms and repeated my earlier statement, "I already told you, I don't even know who you are. So why would I be following you? Furthermore-"

"G-Ghost!" Turning around sharply we both saw the director staring at me fearfully, horrified when he saw his esteemed guest unconscious on the floor. "S-so it IS true, the ghosts you were talking about are real! Owen, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you! And y-you! G-get away from them you-you monster!" At the same time both Owen and I groaned since this whole mess couldn't possibly get any worse.