Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Danny Phantom characters, nor do I make a profit from writing this. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Phantom Shadow

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By: Villain's Vindication

AN: Here I go sticking my foot into yet another fandom. I don't actually read that much DP fanfiction so don't shot me if this has been done before. It's just an idea that came to me, literally, today. Warning for slash ahead.

Danny had always been unstable, in every essence of the word.

He never quiet seemed to know what he was doing, and so many of the major events in his life happened on pure accident, it was no wonder he was. How could anyone be expected to build themselves in such a chaotic life?

His heroics took him from studying, so he had terrible grades.

His studying took him from training, so he never improved his ghostly abilities.

His teen angst and emotions took him from his family, so they knew their own son less and less.

Sam and Tucker were the best things he had in this life, but the dark secrets they carried were a burden. It was only a matter of time before they expected more of him than was possible.

Danny was weak.

He sat in the blazing heat in his graduation gown, looking around the sea of his fellow graduates around him. Yet alone he still was, with his thoughts. 'Eighteen' now, whatever that number really meant to him he still couldn't know. Still on tremulous grounds with Plasmius, aging was one thing he hadn't really thought about, let alone asked the more knowledgeable man about. Remembering back to what he saw of the man's college days, the only difference seemed to be the length and color of his hair.

And of course the increased musculature due to his acquired… nighttime activities. The man was actually more fit than he was as a nerdy scientist in his twenties.

Danny knew there was something to the theory that being half dead and half alive had left them both in a limbo state.

Were they now immortal?

There was no way to know.

Danny himself had grown, that was true enough. He was as tall as his mother now, it was obvious that he was of her body type as opposed to his father's massiveness. He was thankful in a way, though a bit sour that he would never be able to loom over Vladimir the way his dad could if he wasn't so… chummy.

But there had been no growth of hair, no change in voice other than developing his Ghostly Wail, which was hardly a consolation.

He stood and threw his cap up into the air along with everyone else, not wanting to stick out more than he already did. He was happy on this day, if only for the fact that he would never have to return to this godforsaken school. He just couldn't share in his peers' hopefulness for the future.

Sure he had applied to his parent's and Vlad's alma mater, and with their recommendations he might be accepted even with his abominable grades. But what was the point in college? He had no career plans other than 'continue to protect the world' which to him seemed like plently.

He doubted anyone else would see it that way.

Sam ran over and hugged him. She really was beautiful, even in these horrid gowns they were forced to wear. He wished he could give her everything she ever wanted, but it just wasn't to be. It was nearly a year ago now they had tried dating, talking about a future together. But Sam a dreams, real ones and the opportunity to attend the best colleges in the world, to have whatever she wanted. What she wanted actually surprised Danny at the time, but he could see it every time he looked at her now.

She would make a great mother.

Once they sat together in a dark room and Sam confessed her desire to have children. She might be tough, independent, and modern, but she was still a woman.

Danny had let her go that night, because that was not his future.

He could not… would not ever have children. He couldn't risk what would become of them with his damaged genetics. Vlad had obviously made the same decision. Oh sure, he could go on for days about his tragic love for Maddie, but honestly the man was a billionaire. There was no way he hadn't gotten over his love with the massive amount of women… and men gagging to be with him. Vlad just enjoyed dramatics.

In a way the, only child either of them had was Danielle. Created by Vlad from Danny's genetics, she felt more like a little sister than a daughter. But he would always be on the lookout for the mini halfa. He felt what he supposed was a father-like responsibility for the girl.

Danny was nearly suffocating underneath the amount of hugs he was receiving. He laughed and struggled free, both from them and his obsessive thoughts. Today he was a man.

Today he would be strong.

There had been whispers in the Ghost Zone, talks of a ghost more powerful than anything the world had ever seen. Talks that he'd been imprisoned…

Talks that he'd been freed.

Danny heard the rumors and cursed himself for his own stupidity. His trust in Clockwork and his own desire to forget everything that had to do with that false future, had made him sloppy. Lesser ghosts than Dan Phantom had found their way out of the Thermos, and now, it appeared, so had he.

Danny knew that that Phantom would be hell bent on coming here once free, he only had a short amount of time to prepare.

He had to invent a permanent solution to the problem he had created. The only option that he could see, the only option available, might very well be his last act as a living being.

He had to merge with Phantom.

Perhaps that's why he hadn't much hope for his future.

Danny left his friends out of the loop on this one, they were all still celebrating their new found freedom. He couldn't ruin that for them. However, he did have enough foresight to contact Vladimir. Plasmius was the only one who also stood a chance against his darker self, and if Danny was not able to overshadow him, it would be up to Plasmius to imprison him.

It was the only way.

He had thought about enlisting Dani in this, but she still wasn't strong enough for this type of ordeal.

And you are?

Both he and Vladimir had worked together on cover and a way to protect everyone. Vlad had thrown a party at his mayor's mansion, far from the Fenton's home, and whisked away everyone who was important, the Fentons, the Mansons, everyone even Valerie and her father. It was a graduation gift that he was hosting himself. Of course, he slipped away with Danny as soon as they could.

The moment Plasmius's spectral foot stepped down to the floor before the Ghost Portal, the machine seemed to explode. Shrapnel from the blast flew everywhere and Vlad quickly grabbed a hold of Danny and made them intangible to avoid being killed by the debris.

The hypnotic spiral of green slowed and shrank into nothingness, the Ghost Portal now just empty machinery.

"Shit," he older halfa drew them both to the back wall as the smoke cleared and Phantom rose up. Danny yanked his arm out of Vlad's grasp and transformed. They charged together toward their mutual creation.

This would decide the future.

Blasts, shrieks, ice, electricity, and globs of plasma filled the air and nearly leveled the place. Phantom chuckled darkly as he heard the screams coming from outside. People running in terror through the streets from a foe that they could not see.

That one second of gloating was all it took. Danny's hand touched him and quickly phased through, as though drawn in, which made sense as they were really a part of one another already. Vlad had a backup plan of his own, and as the ghost's screams hit a fevered pitch he blasted Dan… or Danny or whoever it was now… back into the ghost portal. Going intangible he flew as fast as he could, praying that the machine still worked well enough. He pressed the switch inside the portal an continued on straight through the wall in order to avoid its effects himself.

The Ghostly Wail could be heard from blocks away.

Plasmius floated in the shadows and waited for the silence he was certain would come. He hoped against all else that he hadn't just killed the only comrade he'd ever had. Danny had always been a bother, but Vlad was no murderer, especially not when it was someone who mattered to him. From what Danny had told him about this alternate self of his… overshadowing just wasn't going to work. Vlad bet that using the powers of the ghost portal just might fuse the two Daniels' DNA, or something along those lines. Either way being rid of Phantom was top priority, Daniel had impressed that upon him more than anything else.

The boy was obviously ready to sacrifice himself for that cause if that was what it took.

The ground shook beneath him once more, and even when it finally stilled and a heavy quiet seemed to choke the very air, Plasmius found that his own hands would not stop shaking. Who knew what awaited him in the Fenton lab.

Phasing back into the building, he once again landed in the basement. Keeping his guard up, he slowly approached the boy now crouched on the floor, hands still gripping his head as if the struggle wasn't yet over.

Perhaps it wasn't.

"Daniel?" Plasmius asked softly. He grabbed Danny's Thermos from the counter as he walked by it. He had no idea what he might be dealing with.

"Ugh… Vlad?" The other halfa tensed, that voice was not the voice of his little badger, but Dan would have referred to him with his ghost name wouldn't he? "Dan if you have done something with Danny…" Plasmius formed a sword of plasma with his free hand and swung it downwards.

"Stop!" the ghost spun quickly and caught the blade with one hand, "Vlad it's me!" The boy himself seemed confused, raising his hand to his throat. "It's me I swear, I guess I… I guess I finally got that deeper voice I wanted eh?" The ghost, presumably Danny smiled up at him with bright green eyes.

Green.

Vladimir relaxed slightly and reabsorbed the sword. He still held the Thermos tightly though, he worried now that he would never actually be able to tell who it was before him. Anything could be a trick or it could be real, he didn't think the distinction would be so difficult. How could he ever trust this boy?

"…Vlad please… it's me…" Danny stood up and Plasmius took a few steps back, muscles tensing once more. "You have fangs…" Danny paused, confused again. He ran his tongue slowly over his upper teeth, feeling the points for himself, "well so do you Vlad."

The older halfa crossed his arms over his chest, unconvinced. "Your hair is on fire as well."

"WHAT!" Danny quickly reached up to touch his hair, not a very smart move on his part if his hair had actually been on fire. He could sort of feel what Vlad meant though, he slowly stepped over to the mirror as to not startle the man. His reflection confirmed it, his hair wasn't on fire it was fire.

Just like Dan's…

Well, not just like. In the past few years Danny had grown out the front of his hair so that it hung down over his right eye and past his chin. The back, however, he kept super short. So instead of the whole thing being a flame, the front looked relatively normal and the back spiked up even more than usual and… flickered. Wisps of white flame floating off every few seconds. It was lazy, almost hypnotic instead of raging as Dan's hair had.

"Alright well that's just awesome," Danny smiled at his reflection but then froze and winced at how that must have sounded. "But… uh… well my ears aren't pointed. And my skin! My skin is the same, and my eyes aren't red," he turned back to face Plasmius, "those things have to count for something don't they?"

"Hmn, perhaps." The man hooked the Thermos onto the side of his belt as a precaution. "It is Danny then, is it?"

Danny nodded enthusiastically, "yes, that's me Danny Phantom." He laughed a bit nervously, still eyeing the Thermos. He transformed back into his human state, "just me, Danny Fenton." Plasmius let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He hadn't been sure Danny would even be able to be human at all with that much ghost in him.

Thinking much along the same lines as Vlad, Danny thought out loud, "so what am I, like, two thirds ghost now?" He chuckled and paused, his new voice still surprising him.

"More like three fourths," Plasmius mumbled. The thought alone was disturbing.

Danny took a deep breath and let it out, a trail of red fog going along with his sigh. His ghost sense was detecting Vlad… and it was apparently red now. "Hmn…"

"Our disappearance has most likely been discovered by now, at least by your meddlesome friends if no one else." Danny nodded, "they're probably riffling all through your mansion looking for where you kidnapped me off to." He laughed as the plasma drained from Vald's face, turning him white. "We have to get back, though…" Plasmius trailed off, "I'm loathe to have you near everyone when your… loyalties… are still under question…"

Danny transformed back and hovered over to Vlad, "not much of a choice on that front is there?" he said mysteriously. Plasmius's eyes narrowed, "If you step a moment out of line you'll be imprisoned before you can think. Besides this Thermos my house is a fortress."

"Yeah, yeah, come on Vlad I know that already. Let's go, we're missing our own party." Danny put out his hand and waited for Plasmius to take it, "I'll behave tonight." Vlad shook his head and sighed, "I'm putting my trust in you Daniel, don't let it go to waste." Something softened in the young halfa's eyes as Plasmius spoke and then took his hand. They flew invisible together through the sky to Vlad's, not wanting to risk using the damaged portal.

Danny had always been unstable, in every essence of the word.

As they landed safely and transformed back, Vladimir wondered what exactly the repercussions of what had just occurred were.

After rejoining the group, Danny fabricated the most ridiculous lie that his voice had just dropped and that was why he sounded different. Everyone bought it hook line and sinker. His mother even cuddled him and just said he was a "late bloomer" and there was nothing wrong with that, just as he knew she would.

They had all swallowed even more idiotic lies before, after all.

Vlad stood as a sentry, never far from his side for the rest of the night. Sam and Tucker were suspicious of course as they had, indeed, noticed their little disappearing act. Vlad told them and everyone else they he had merely been discussing scholarships and a potential apprenticeship for Danny at his company in the near future. "There is always a place here for Daniel, should he need it," he said.

Danny's friends didn't buy it.

"I'll tell you all about it later. I promise." He tried his best to appease them. Vlad took his arm and lead him away from the masses. "The party is winding down. You will stay here tonight, make whatever excuses you have to." Vladimir's voice demanded no protest. Danny glared at him, they stood staring at one another for a long moment. The air between them hot with anger, "you looking for a fight Vlad?" Danny's eyes glowed green as he clenched his fist.

"I've had quiet enough of that for today, Daniel," Vlad's voice sounded as tired as he felt. The struggle with Dark Danny, as swift as it was, took a lot out of him. He was quite surprised Daniel was as springy as he was.

It worried him.

"I just want to run some tests. I'm sure you must be even more curious than I as to all that has… changed about you." Danny relaxed… for the moment… "yes, I am." He looked down at his hand as if he could see anything different in its creases. "I also wouldn't mind some pain killers," he smiled at Vlad, the tension between them finally dissipating for good, "I have one hell of a headache."

"I'd imagine so," Vlad smiled back. He began to shuffle everyone out the door, giving every graduate a small gift as they left. Danny spoke outside with Jazz and his parents, saying whatever he needed to in order to convince them. Jazz was as suspicious as his friends whom he still hadn't spoken to. They and his sister shared a meaningful look; they would mostly likely be discussing the matter amongst themselves that night. At least it would keep them occupied.

Much later in the night, while the world slept, Vladimir and the littlest Fenton stood in the dungeon-esk lab. Vlad graciously handed the boy a few tablets to ease his headache which he swallowed dry. "Alright well, you've said he had control of powers you hadn't yet discovered. Such as?" Vlad questioned.

"He could create three perfect clones the way you can," Danny replied hovering in front of the man. "Well let's start there then, see if you can-"

Before he could even blink there were multiples of Daniel flying circles around him. Such incredible speed had never been heard of let alone… were there six of him?

Five clones.

"Was this what you hoped to see?" the revolving Danny's all asked in unison. The spinning was making Vlad sick, "what I feared to see," he whispered to himself. "Will you please stop that!" the man held his stomach as the world continued to turn after Danny absorbed the copies.

The halfa chuckled, "I guess I found a new technique against you Vlad, what should I call it? 'The Kiddie Merry-Go-Round of Ghostlyness?'" He outright laughed at his own joke… the laugh didn't sound quite sane.

"Daniel if you please-"

"And look! This is your favorite trick, isn't it?" He recreated a clone and then kept it as he reverted back to a human himself. Vlad looked on in awe as he held onto a control panel, still waiting for his stomach to settle. Despite Danny's joking, Vlad didn't get sick on amusement rides or in any other arena, doing quite a lot of spinning around himself on a regular basis.

Danny really had used some new technique back there.

The ghost clone floated about his head, turning invisible. "This is the perfect cheating tactic, huh Vlad?"

"Indeed little badger, but I won't be giving you a scholarship if you plan on copying all the answers. You won't need one with grades like that."

Danny once again assimilated the clone and floated up to sit on a shelf near the ceiling. He looked at his nails dispassionately, "you know… I never really planned on attending college."

"What?" Vlad asked, now completely baffled, "what did you plan to do for the rest of your life?"

"Oh you know," Danny started leaning back, propping himself up on his elbows, "fly around, save some people, defeat some bad guys-" He rolled over onto his stomach, knocking some undoubtedly important machinery off to crash on the ground. His green eye pierced Vlad's, "find someone powerful and wealthy to worry about silly things like careers and money for me." He tilted his head slightly towards Vlad.

"You certainly can't mean me," Vlad was shocked to hear all of this. "I certainly can," Danny mocked back, "I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement. Besides you know I would never-"

"cheat on you…"

Vlad literally froze where he stood, an icy sort of fear taking hold of his heart. Slowly he turned to look behind himself… and there was Danny, the one on the shelf just another clone.

How did he-

But he couldn't have-

There wasn't time to-

Perfect cheating tactic indeed-

What does he mean?

"What?" Vladimir finally asked when his brain stopped spinning in his own head. Now he had a headache.

And he was still nauseous…

"What? No," he tried to start again, "any deal you make with me would have you going to school." The other halfa sighed dramatically, "don't be such a bore Vladdy. I had a thought earlier today. I thought hey, 'if I'm immortal-'" he gave Vlad a meaningful look, "'I'll learn all there is to know eventually... won't I?' So what, I wonder, is the point is going to college, hmn?"

Vlad kept an eye on him as he walked around, "we can't know that Daniel," he said quietly, having never before voiced his thoughts on the matter. "You've noticed though, hmn? That we age almost nothing? Admittedly, it is probably just because we don't age while we are ghosts, and eventually we will have to stay ghosts all of the time..." Danny continued his circular path, "Either way we'll be undead forever, so can't we just... forget the school? For now at least?"

"For Pete's sake Daniel, what about your friends? Your family's hopes for you? You're not yourself. Whats-" he trailed off.

Whats gotten into you?

The implied question hung in the air and Danny began to laugh once more. "I'm afraid it's you, Vladdy. I've got a bit of you in me now, haven't I?" He completed another rotation around the man, "though I wouldn't protest to having a bit more..."

A bit more of what? Me in him?

Vlad feared for a moment that Danny thought to overshadow his own ghost half as he had in the alternate future. But the way the boy was looking at him, smoldering, he must be meaning something else entirely. Vlad pulled at his collar a bit, suddenly too hot in the enclosed space.

This was madness.

"What are you going on about?" Despite what Daniel appeared to think, he had never thought of the boy in that sort of light. He was a boy and a child, Maddie's child, no less. Though, he supposed, technically Danny was a man now at eighteen. Still he had never been in bed with another man before, he had always been strictly straight, but if the boy kept looking at him like that as he wound around him...

He might begin to question himself.

He tugged on his collar again, a bead of sweat rolling down the back of his neck. This was getting real crazy real fast.

"So, what'll it be Masters?" Vlad snapped his eyes up. Danny was suddenly standing right in front of him, and for some reason the cocky tilt of his hips was all Vlad could seem to look at. "You do... what I've asked of you, and in return..." he lay his hand on Vlad's fluttering heart, "I do... whatever you want."

"That has been you real goal this whole time, hasn't it?" the halfa whispered stepping even closer.

"Not-not this... not..." Vlad attempted to step back but only succeeded in hitting the wall behind him. Danny pressed on unphased, "haven't you always wanted to... control... me?" The boy's face was now perilously close to his.

"I... no, I-" Danny laughed lightly, "you can't deny it... It's written all over your face... Vladimir..."

All Vlad's breath left him in a great whoosh, to hear his name said like that... His gaze was fixed on Danny's lips and he could smell nothing but sugar and chocolate from the cake eaten earlier that evening. Though for some reason that all seemed like so long ago.

"So what will it be? A yes..." Vlad watched each movement of those lips intently, "...or a no?" His gaze was drug up from that mouth into the glistening green eyes, at some point his hands had migrated against his better judgement to Danny's hips. He could distinctly feel the shape of them beneath his fingertips, all he could breathe in was that sweetness, all he knew was...

"Yes."

Danny's eyes flickered red.

"Wonderful."

Something seemed to snap inside Vlad, something he and kept under lock and key for far to long and now it was up and raging against him. He pulled Danny against his chest and pushed his hand up the boy's toned back, pushing up his shirt along with it. Danny pressed his face into Vlad's chest as gasped, and before either of them quiet realized it, Danny was on his back on the control panel Vlad had so desperately clung to earlier. All sorts of buttons pressed painfully into his back, but he only smirked as Vlad roughly kissed him.

Danny whimpered perfectly when the man pulled away for a moment, "what... what are you doing?" the boy asked breathlessly.

"I'm going to fuck you," Vlad growled nearly tearing Danny's pants off his before the boy helpfully phased through them. The young halfa, turned his head to the side to hide his smirk, but he moaned for real when Vlad went straight for it and pressed a finger into him. Danny arched up and whined, and at that Vlad just couldn't take it.

The man growled beastly above him, biting and scratching Danny's smaller chest. Catching a nipple with his nail Danny actually cried out, his panting no longer over exaggerated. The boy forced himself to sit up for a moment and grabbed the nearest vial of hell-knows-what. He quickly broke the top off and poured it over his hand and over Vlad's erection. The man had simply undone his fly in his haste, not concerned with any actually undressing.

Danny slid his hand over Vlad, slicking him up as best he could. "Daniel," Vlad hissed and yanked at the boys hair, forcing him back and around so fast that he almost fell of the panel. Now on his stomach, his toes just barely touching the floor, his own hardness rubbing up against the irregular plastic shapes beneath him, and his hands slippery and unable to grip any of the controls he reached for to stead himself, Vlad shoved himself balls deep into Danny.

The boy's scream reverberated around the room.

He scrambled at the keyboard beneath him, seemingly attempting to get away, but his eyes rolled up in his head as the man moved within him. After that he could only gasp and cry out with every violent thrust.

"Plasmius!"

Vlad took Danny's hips into a bruising grip and bent the body beneath him as he wished. He hadn't noticed when the boy came, but he himself wasn't far behind him. "Ugh," he grunted as he filled the boy, some of it even over flowing down Danny's well muscled thighs.

They both gasped for breath, and after a time, the world seemed to begin spinning once more.

Vlad looked down at the body beneath him, the body that he was still inside of, in shock.

What had happened? He had never...

But as Danny, pushed himself up, obviously weak and sore to turn his head and look at Vlad. The boy's deep crimson flush, tousled hair, and traces of tears in the corners of his eyes, Vlad fell right back into that almost golden glow about him. Maybe he always had wanted this subconsciously, repressed in some way...

Who wouldn't want this?

Though he couldn't seem to remember ever feeling that way before... His train of thought was cut short when Danny began giggling beneath him. He soon joined in and felt a load fall from his shoulders with the laughter. "We should probably get cleaned up," he helped Danny sit up. "Yeah," the boy replied, blushing deeper still. Vlad transformed and flew them up to his private bath.

Later that night as Vlad slept beside him, cozy beneath cool silken sheets, Danny formed a small dagger with his plasma. His eyes narrowed in silent delight. Who new you could discover so many wondrous powers in one night?

His glowing eyes watched Vlad Masters.

Ice grew up around the dagger forming a point far sharper than the plasma could ever create. Danny's glowing eyes delighted in watching the swirling green completely trapped in ice. The movement seemed to slow within the frosty embrace, seemed to darken in the casts of the night.

I'll call it Shadow-Plasm.

His fangs glistened as he smiled.

Danny had always been unstable, in every essence of the word.

The End?

I honestly have no ideas of where to go from here, or even if I should think about continuing at all. Please leave me a review of your thoughts and ideas. I would greatly appreciate it!

And I know it was terrible and unedited and everything, but I literally sat down and wrote the whole of it in one day, barely getting up to eat or anything. So forgive me the little mistakes I will attempt to correct them.

Ta!