Chapter Text
Humiliation… Guilt… Shame… Fury… Each emotion swirled through Valerie like the five stages of grief on a marathon. The anger was most prominent. Vlad Masters played her like a fool. How dare he!? She was a teenager whose life was in shambles, and he’d taken advantage of her pain! Conned her into believing that Phantom was the enemy.
Not that Phantom hadn’t actually screwed up her life. Because he did. She’d later learned after fighting her fair share of ghosts that the ghost dog did break out of the Ghost Zone on occasion. Maybe, it had just been easier to blame Phantom for ruining her father’s career than to accept that a lot of it was an accident. When she was handcuffed to the ghost boy, she’d realized he was basically just a stupid kid himself.
What idiots they both were, huh?
Valerie flopped down on her bed, tears stinging her eyes. She wouldn’t cry. She wouldn’t give him that. The one adult on this planet she thought understood her. Thought really had her back and was on her side… It was all a lie. Just another ghost using her for personal gain. Damn, she hated ghosts. Why did she live in Amity Park of all places? Clearly, the most haunted town in America. (Thanks to the Fentons, she was almost sure.)
But what did she really know? Nothing made any sense. Humans can be ghosts? Ghosts can be humans? What the hell was that all about? How was that even possible?
Groaning, Valerie buried her face in her pillow. “I have to talk to Phantom,” she muttered to herself.
He said he’d be “ready to play” the next day. Maybe, there needed to be less gun and ghost ray blasts and more sharing time. She had to understand how Danielle was “related” to him if she was human. Unless… Phantom wasn’t all ghost himself?
...There was no way she was getting a restful night's sleep.
Valerie wasn’t sure when she fell asleep, but she was definitely jarred awake by the sound of her ghost detection device blaring loudly. Yelping, she sat straight up in her bed and quickly opened the tracker to see the blinking dot on the screen. The ghost wasn’t too far from her home. Maybe it was Phantom? Even if it wasn’t, he’d probably show up anyway. The ghost boy never seemed to be able to resist a fight. Playing hero all of the time…
It was that stupid Box Ghost again. Despite how annoying she found Phantom’s smartass quips to be, the prior was the worst of them all. Phantom was already sucking the ghost into the Fenton Thermos (which she still idly wondered where he had acquired one) by the time she finally approached the scene.
Phantom capped off the thermos while staring at her. His mouth was agape, those neon green eyes wide in surprise. “U-Um. Hi? Not that I’m complaining, but you’re not shooting me? I thought we called the truce off.”
Valerie pursed her lips, eyes hard as she squinted at him. How on earth would she convince him to discuss anything with her? They were enemies. The last twenty-four hours--despite changing her life a lot-- didn’t change that. “We need to talk.”
“ Talk? ” he asked with a stunned scoff. “This is new. You’ve never been much of a Chatty Kathy. Except when you’re zapping me for answers--you’re not going to zap me for answers again, are you?”
Why was he like this!? It took every bit of her to keep her temper in check.
Crossing her arms, Valerie took a breath. “Look, I know Vlad Masters is Vlad Plasmius.”
Well, that got his attention. All humor was suddenly drained from his face. He was--well--pale as a ghost for a lack of a better term. Those green eyes hardened. “How’d you find out?”
“After you and Danielle left, I went back to check on Mr. Mas-- Vlad and saw him transform. Heard him talking about his whole jacked up plan about melting down Danielle too. I need answers, Phantom, and I expect you to corporate.”
Sighing, his shoulders slumped slightly. “I’m guessing if I don’t come willingly, you’re just going to bring out the literal big guns, huh?”
Valerie just smirked in response.
“Fine,” Phantom groaned, ruffling a gloved hand through his hair. “But there will be some things I can’t answer--for my own safety, okay?”
“Deal.”
They found a building to sit on. It was out of sight from the peeping public, so no one in Amity could just ask why the ghost boy was hanging out with the Red Huntress for the evening. Plus, if her dad found out… he’d have her ass.
Phantom leaned against the brick. “What do you want to know?”
“How long has Vlad Masters been a ghost?” she asked.
“Since college.”
“That long?”
Phantom snorted. “How do you think he got loaded? He overshadowed tycoons and robbed banks.”
Valerie almost couldn’t believe it. But she’d seen him transform with her own eyes. How someone she had admired could be so low. Not just a filthy ghost, but a legitimate criminal.
There was a tightness in her chest. She felt so guilty . Phantom had tried to warn her, hell Danielle even warned her. But she was so dead set in her hatred for Phantom and her trust in Vlad that she refused to listen.
“So, you and Vlad have this--rivalry?”
Snorting, Phantom shook his head. “You don’t know the half of it. He… He’s weirdly obsessed with me. He wants me to be his son and take over the world with him.”
“That’s--crazy.”
“Yeah, he’s a crazed up fruit loop.”
Valerie snickered at that. Could it have always been this way? Could she and Phantom have gotten along like this if she’d just… listened?
“Well, I’d say we have a common enemy now.”
His brows shot up. “Really?”
“Yeah, definitely. Can’t have anyone as powerful as Vlad as both a ghost and a human running around. Especially as our mayor,” she paused, “which does lead me to my next question. Do all of the ghosts know that he’s human?”
Phantom nodded slowly. “Yeah, the Ghost Zone knows about halfas.”
Valerie blinked. “‘Halfas?’”
“Uh… nothing.”
“There’s more half ghosts? Besides Vlad and Danielle?”
Phantom suddenly wasn’t answering. He pursed his lips, staying silent. Valerie wasn’t stupid. They both knew that. She was able to put two and two together.
“You’re one of them, aren’t you?”
He wouldn’t meet her gaze.
Valerie felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. A rug swept out from beneath her. Literally everything she thought she knew about ghosts wasn’t true. Some ghost hunter she was. Did the Fentons know of half ghosts? Maybe, she could ask Danny?
“You’re… human?”
“I can’t…” he swallowed, “I can’t answer that.”
But he was answering. She knew it. Phantom was human too.