A/N: I am back. I know I've been inactive for a while, and I know that you guys want me to update my other stories instead of making another, but I just had to get this story out.

I got the idea after watching L is for Love and I just thought, "Needs more cowbell." So be prepared for this story to have more teen angst compared to my other stories, and it'll focus on character interaction more. Also with how the Loud House episodes usually are, I feel like I can actually force myself away from just following the shows plot course. So yeah, this story will likely turn out drastically different from what I usually put out. Without further ado, I bid you to read the first chapter of "Family."

Danny couldn't breathe. Dan had him face down on the street, his foot pressed harshly against his younger self's back. The ghost smirked as Danny's ghost form drained away to reveal his human half and pushed his foot harder, making Danny cry out, "Stop!" Dan rolled his eyes, kneeling down and grabbing the boy's head in one hand, "Why would I do that?" He turned Danny's head to the side, "We haven't even seen the climax yet!"

Tears streamed down the halfa's face as he was forced to looked at his friends and family strapped to the Nasty Burger's secret sauce container. It wasn't just the thought of knowing he had failed to them, it was the looks they were giving him. They all had the same expression, an expression of forgiveness. He may not have been able to see the sorrowful smiles they had, but the looks in their eyes told him enough: It was okay that he couldn't save them, he had done his best and they knew that. Danny cried harder, knowing that this would be the last time he saw any of them.

The metal container began to hiss as it finally reached its threshold, "NO!" The explosion muffled the boys scream. He choked on his own sobs as the smoke cleared, revealing a smoldering crater devoid of any sign that his family had been there at all.

"Aw, I was hoping for a bit more blood." Dan chuckled. Danny looked at him out of the corner of his eye. This monster had just murdered his family and friends and he had the gall to laugh at him, "Oh, what's with that look? This was destined to happen." Danny's fingers scraped the pavement as he balled his fists, his despair turning into anger. What made all of this worse was that this monster was supposed to be him. "And now all that your future holds is for you to become just. Like. Me!" Dan laughed in triumph. Danny clenched his eyes shut and whispered something inaudible, "What did you say, I didn't quite catch that?" Dan leaned in closer cupping his hand behind his ear.

"I said," Danny began to push against Dan's foot, "NO!" He summoned his ghost half and threw his future self off of him. The teen jumped off the ground, turning to his shocked counterpart. Rage filed his eyes, causing them to flicker between red and green. Danny threw himself at Dan, punching, kicking and even biting before the ghost could regain himself. He drove his fist into his face, feeling something crunch under it. The boy grabbed Dan's head, bringing it down as he threw his knee into his chin. He kicked him in the chest forcing the ghost onto his back. Danny dropped his knee on Dan's chest. He reared his fist back and began to pummel the ghost repeatedly.

Danny began to slow down, his breath coming in heaving pants. Dan's face was battered and bruised, ectoplasm flowing freely from his nose. Danny grabbed the sides of the ghost's head and screamed. The sound he released was haunting as it echoed throughout Amity Park, but for Dan the scream was more than haunting, it was devastating. The point blank ghostly wail ruptured his ear drums and sapped whatever strength he had left. Danny didn't stop, he kept screaming. By the time he was done his throat was ragged and Dan may as well have been a limp husk. Danny let go of his head, letting it crack against the street. He stood and pulled the Fenton thermos from his belt and sucked the monster into it. The adrenaline in his system began to fade, causing Danny to drop his ghost form and collapse in the street.

Danny woke up in a hospital room. The sudden rush of light he received when opening his eyes blinded him, causing him to wince. He blinked until he could see again. He was dressed in a patient gown with an IV inserted in his arm. He sat up as a doctor came into the room, "Ah, you're awake," he stood by the boy's bed, "You are very... fortunate young man, you came in here with only minor injuries and what ones you had have healed remarkably fast." Danny hummed in reply, 'Fortunate... is that what I am?' The man took note of his silence and put a hand on his shoulder, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry." That didn't make him feel any better, Danny hated people who did that, say "I'm sorry" to someone for something that wasn't their fault. The doctor left the room after looking at the chart at the end of the bed.

It wasn't long after he left that a woman entered the room, a bag hanging from her elbow, "Hi, Danny," she said before going into a speech about who she was and why she was there, essentially telling him she was a social worker, "I assume you know what this means?" Danny nodded.

"I have to go live with Vlad." His voice was small, hushed. The events that led to Dan existing were falling into place.

"Vlad?" The woman seemed confused, "No sweetie, he's not your godfather anymore."

This made Danny confused, as far as he knew Vlad was his legal guardian, but if he wasn't then... "Who is?"

"That would be me." A new voice came from the door. Danny looked at the voice's owner, his face lighting up when he saw him.

"Kids! Could you come downstairs, we need to have a family meeting!" Rita Loud called upstairs to her children. The kids came down stairs yawning and rubbing their eyes after being woken up in the middle of the night. Rita moved in front of the tv as her children surrounded the couch.

"What's up Mom, why'd you call us so late?" Lincoln asked her, wiping crust from his eyes.

Rita looked at her kids with a sad expression, "Well kids, something happened. With the Fentons."

When she said this most of the kids looked confused, but the oldest five began to feel worried. Lincoln raised his hand, "Who are the Fentons?"

Rita looked at her only son, "The Fentons are some old friends your dad and I met during college. They used to live across the street but they moved away, the last time we saw them was when you were only two years old, Lincoln." Her explanation brought looks of revelation to the younger kids' faces, but the older kids still looked worried.

"Mom what happened, are they okay?" Luan asked, trying to get her mom back on track.

"I don't know all the details, but there was something about an explosion and Danny being in the hospital," She sighed, "We got a call earlier about how Danny's going to live here now. Your father left immediately after the call ended, he'll be back in a few days with Danny, they just need to pack his things and they'll head back."

"Aw, dudes, I hope Danny's okay." Luna looked at her sisters, who nodded in return. Of all the Loud siblings Luna was the most concerned. Before Danny had moved away, they were best friends, one would be hard pressed to find a time where the two were apart they were so close. The two had kept in contact with each other over the years but it wasn't the same as before.

Their mother smiled at her daughters' concern, "He'll be alright, your father said he only had minor injuries and would be out of the hospital by tomorrow." A wave of relief washed over the girls upon hearing this, "Now back up to bed kids, we've got a few long days ahead of us."

The Loud children filed back upstairs and into their rooms. One by one they all fell asleep, except for Luna. She found herself awake for the rest of the night, excitement shining partly through the fog of worry. A smile worked its way onto her face, 'Danny's coming back!'

Danny was walking through house for what would be the last time. He held a box in his hands. Inside the box were the pictures that had hung on the walls for years, a visual timeline of the Fentons' lives. There were pictures of every birthday, every holiday, everything important that had ever happened to his family was held in that box.

Danny went into Jazz's room. The walls were lined with bookshelves and educational posters. He walked up to her bed. MC Bear-Bear rested peacefully against her pillows. The boy grabbed the stuffed animal and set him in the box. His next stop was his parents' room. Ghost equipment was scattered around the floor and an empty fudge tin stuck out from under his dad's pillow. He couldn't stop himself from smiling at this. The halfa opened their closet. His mother's staff rested against the wall at the back of the closet. Danny grabbed it and set it against his shoulder before reaching for one of his father's belongings. Jack's fishing hat sat in his hands like a lead weight. He quickly put the hat in the box before he could start crying.

Danny went downstairs, heading for his last piece of business. He stared at the ghost portal. He wished he could blame it for all of what had happened but he couldn't find it in himself to do so. In a lot of ways the ghost portal had improved his life, his time as Phantom had boosted his confidence tremendously and there was no way he could say his life had been boring fro the past year he had his powers. The was no way he could hate his parents' creation.

He moved to the control panel. Before he could touch a single button, the doors flew open. The swirling vortex darkened as a silhouette began to form, prompting Danny to transform into Phantom. His hands began to glow as the shadow grew smaller. A paw stepped out of the portal, leading up to a furry body supporting a wolf head. Danny dropped his guard, "Wulf?"

The ghost smiled at Danny before grabbing him in a hug. He set the boy down and pointed at him "F-family." His voice was filled with sympathy.

Danny's eyes went downcast, "Word got around fast, huh?" Wulf nodded. He gestured to the ghost portal, "Want... truce."

This took Danny a few minutes to understand, "The ghosts want a truce?"

The werewolf nodded, "Mmosst."

Danny sighed, turning back to the control panel, "Just tell them that as long as they don't cause any trouble they won't hear anything from me."

Wulf put a hand on the halfa's shoulder, "H-hold." Another shadow appeared in the portal, this one considerably smaller than Wulf's. A yap echoed from the tunnel, telling Danny exactly who it was. A small, green bounded out of the portal and started barking at the boy, who laughed at its excitement. He knelt down as the dog ran up to him and let it lick his hand, "Hey, Cujo." He was so distracted by the ghost dog that he didn't hear what Wulf was doing until a loud crack caught his attention. The ghost had one of his fingers in his mouth and one of his glowing green claws in the other hand.

"Whoa, Wulf, what are you doing?!" Danny rushed to his friend's side, Cujo in hot pursuit. The werewolf picked up the small dog, after removing his finger from his mouth, and held him and the claw out to the teen, "Gifts for frrriend."

The half-ghost was speechless. He reached out and took the claw, looking at the broken remains that stuck out of his friend's finger. He smiled and hugged the ghost. He didn't lose all of his friends.

Danny walked up to the beat-up van that Lynn Sr. had arrived in. The man was standing outside facing the now vacant Fenton Works building, "Y'know, Danny," he kept his eyes on the building, "Your parents... they were really something. The whole "ghosts" thing nobody believed them, but they didn't care. They stuck with their dreams and look what they accomplished... They proved that ghosts actually exist," He sighed, looking at the boy, "You should be proud."

The teen stacked the last box on the others, setting the staff in the floor. He looked back at his empty home and smiled.

"I am."

A/N: I don't want to hear anything about how short or how shit the fight with Dan was, that's not what this story's about. Dan. Won't. Return. I'm just putting that out there now so people don't expect him to come waddling back in with his pants around his ankles. That's usually how I feel "Dan's back" story lines go, stumbling around, exposing themselves to strangers.

That's not to say ghosts won't have a role to play, they will, just not a frequently recurring role. Also I don't want to hear any bitching about Wulf giving Danny one of his claws, I know it wasn't the best scene but I couldn't think of any other way to leave some paths that I may take in the future open. And yes, I know the scene wasn't that good, but I couldn't think of any other way to do it.

Oh, and could you guys give me some other title ideas, I don't know how much I like "Family" so if you guys could help me come up with a better one, that'd be great.