His family.
His friends.
Mr. Lancer.
The arrow on the meter quivered dangerously close to red. Obnoxious alarms faintly drilled into his head.
Spiderweb cracks broke through the glass, and the gauge screamed in a hazard.
Heat glowered at his skin as he watched his life begin to shatter. Numb adrenaline was surging from the ends of his hair to the tips of his toes.
In a last-ditch effort, he bolted to his loved ones (and teacher). White rings materialized at his waist, only to fail him.
Remaining traces of hope evaporated when he tripped and fell. His heart sank, replaced by the realization of what was to come.
Danny glanced at them helplessly from the ground. Their eyes met briefly, but it felt like an eternity.
Their expressions seemingly inquired, "Why?"
Then everything turned from red to black.
He awoke groggily to the steady drone of a heart monitor announcing his every heartbeat. Each reminder sent a dull throb to his skull, traveling down his spine and dispersing through his body. Pain twinged deep in his brain, an unreachable and unquenchable sensation, and it seemed everything would worsen it, from the cool breeze kissing his face to the sheets tangled around his body. Groaning, he tried to turn onto his stomach with the intent of shoving a fat pillow over his black locks to block out the annoyance, a seemingly last minute resort to the barely conscious child. But only having the strength to turn his head on its right side the teen shoved his ear into the cushion. Feeling his neck strain to an unknown presence of gravity. He grunted, discomfort biting at him as a literal pain in the neck.
Eventually, the teenager forfeited to the peaceful ruckus, opening his eyes to find himself in an unfamiliar setting, fear and confusion lightly brushing his conscious. Danny had been propped up in a large hospital bed at an angle of 120 degrees, thus the culprit for the uncomfortable placement of his head; he was closer to being propped upright than lying down. But despite the pain, he felt too weak to prop his head back into a comfortable position, so the teen stared weakly ahead at the large, silver railings protruding from the heavy duty mattress. They partially obscured his vision but nevertheless, he caught a glimpse at the complex set of electronic monitors, computers, and wires perched above his hospital bed, taking note of the analog clock reading 3:11 AM.
Although the room was mainly white, it appeared a dull blue from the shadows. They danced with the moonlight that shone through his hospital window, toying with Danny's eyes. A dizziness crept upon him, making the boy change the focus of his attention to his lap—a place of steady comfort he could always count on. With his head bowed the boy observed that his wrist was strapped to an arm-board accompanied by an IV and a bulky fingertip oximeter that had been gently clamped to his first digit. (Danny knew the names of numerous medical equipment thanks to his parents' occasional demands for his assistance in their zany experiments.) With great effort, he cautiously lifted his hand to confirm his assumptions. However, a much more urgent detail captured his attention, distracting him from thoughts and memories that had surfaced regarding the devices attached to his arm.
He frowned at his filthy hand and forearms where dirt, soot, and gravel stuck to his skin. It was most peculiar; he had no memory as to how they got there. Danny attempted to elbow himself into a sitting position to better examine his arm but yelped when pain sliced through his entire body. Steady blips issuing from the cardiac monitor grew faster in response to the sudden exertion of his muscles, which begged to be rested. Despite his body's protest to movement, he managed to sit up by pushing against the mattress quickly, letting momentum do the work for him. His upper body swayed precariously upon achievement, the consequences of ignoring his body roaring back at him, even if the negligence had only lasted a sixteenth of a second. Black specks emerged from the corners of his vision and danced to his pupils, mocking his lack of strength. Danny blinked repeatedly in an effort to make them disappear, eventually clearing his sight and bringing his attention back to his grimy upper limbs. Without adequate lighting, it was difficult to determine how filthy he was but too tired to procure light via his ghost powers, the boy estimated it would come off with the help of soap and a washcloth.
Or...he could go intangible (more accessible than creating light) and make it fall off, which he did as soon as the thought crossed his half-awake conscious—alleviating the itchy sensation it left on the boy's skin.
Then instantly regretted.
The arm board, IV, oximeter, various other equipment AND bandages, which Danny had failed to notice, fell off with the debris. And being unable to detect the halfa's heartbeat, the machine to Danny's right blared an alarm notifying the hospital staff of "heart failure." Danny froze and mumbled "Nice going, Fenton." to himself. "Such a stupid mistake," he thought. But was the blunder really his? The teenager usually had more of a handle on his powers, he should've been able to turn intangible with the equipment. Typically he could manipulate which items would respond...he cautiously glanced back to his forearms, which were still stained with dirt but at least gravel-free.
Interrupting his confusion, the door to his room opened, and a nurse strolled in on up to the contraption. She wore friendly-blue scrubs covered with little dinosaurs and hair messily pulled into a half-bun. A new wave of cold air washed through the room and the hospitalized teenager grimaced.
"You're awake! How do you feel, honey?" Exclaimed the nurse, seeing Danny sitting up, albeit groggy-eyed. Grinning friendlily, she tampered with the device in an attempt to silence the wretched machine.
"Sore." Danny groaned, still half-awake.
"Any pain?"
"Just a headache."
"Give me your hand for a sec..." Having finally fixed the heart monitor, she turned her full attention to the patient. Reaching for his right hand, she bent down to take off the device and paused, her polite smile sliding into a frown upon seeing his medical equipment and bandages scattered amongst him. The nurse's eyes darted back to the young teen, who according to the whiteboard by the door should've had burns adorned on his exposed skin.
"Huh...whoops...I must've...uh...taken them off in my sleep." He said with a meek smile, mentally facepalming. "Taken them off in my sleep? What kind of an excuse is that?!"
"T-That's quite alright sweetie." The nurse replied shakily, picking up the IV and oximeter. "But let's make sure not to do that again, okay? We're going to have to put in a new IV; I'll be right back, I need to grab some supplies." Thinking she didn't read the board correctly the first time, she decided she'd fix his IV before re-reading it. Disposing of the used needle, she turned on the overhead lights as she strode out of the room. If Danny weren't so disoriented he would've rolled his eyes at the woman's fake and cheery demeanor.
The lights were way too bright for the exhausted boy, immediately pulling him out of his half-awake status and temporarily blinding him. Bringing his hand up to cover his eyes, the 14-year-old realized how stiff he felt. He wanted to stretch, but his limbs felt utterly spent. So spent, that he refrained from attempting to move any further. Maybe that's why he couldn't execute his intangibility correctly—more often than not his powers got worse the more tired he was. Which brought the ghost boy to another question, why was he so tired? And why was he in the hospital?
Realizing he had been holding his neck above the pillow, he released the tension, letting his head fall back with a small moan. And squinting towards the other side of the room, (finally getting accustomed to the lights) the hybrid backtracked to yesterday's events.
He remembered being in the school auditorium while Mr. Lancer talked about the upcoming CAT and trying to study over Jazz's annoying hovering. Then being interrupted by the daughter of The Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady. Ew. What was her name again, Box Lunch? He defeated her by making the Nasty Sauce explode...somehow getting ahold of the CAT scores...which he would've opened in his room if it weren't for SkulkTech showing up...shortly after that, meeting Clockwork...and his...
future evil self...
Danny's memories hit him one after the other, getting collectively worse as the past memories' consequences affected the next, snowballing faster and faster-
"Daniel?" The nurse asked, standing over the IV equipment she had set on his bed. "There's no need to be scared honey, it'll be quick." Assured she, seeing the patient frozen in fear as she described the process for applying his IV. Of course, he wasn't frozen in fear upon hearing about his IV—he hadn't even heard or seen her return to his hospital room. But it would be lying to say he wasn't frozen in fear, anyone would be after reliving that nightmare.
Not getting a response from the teen, the nurse gently put her hand on his shoulder and bent further over the bed, so they were face-to-face. "Daniel?" She repeated.
Jolting out of his stupor, he blinked and muttered, "My family."
"What was that?"
"My family," Danny repeated, this time slightly louder. He looked her dead in the eyes, his own filled with numbing fear. "Where's my family."
The nurse peered down at where she had placed the IV equipment, staring at them for a few seconds before beginning to unwrap what appeared to be a plastic syringe. With a forced, reassuring smile, she replied, "I'm afraid I'm not in the position to tell you." As she gently lifted his right wrist several inches off the bed.
"What do you mean 'the right position'?" He pressed, raising his voice.
"Someone other than me must inform you of your current situation." She said with that sickeningly sweet tone, one-handedly prepping the syringe. Holding the plastic device over his wrist, she explained, "This is a numbing liquid. You might hear a sound that resembles opening a can of pop, but it won't hurt you at all."
Before she could administer the liquid, Danny yanked his wrist away, making the woman jump slightly. "Who? I need to know what happened to my family and friends. Now."
Used to working with troublesome patients, the nurse was well aware that those hospitalized typically weren't in the dandiest of situations, whether it's their physical ailments, personal life, or both. Knowing it would be best to get all his questions out of the way or at least calm him down before proceeding to stab him with a needle, she gently lowered her dainty hands and answered, "Your primary nurse, your doctor, your—"
"My, Daniel, are you really this difficult with everyone?" A telltale voice drawled.
Danny knew that voice anywhere. The teen glimpsed past the nurse at the location it had originated. And sure enough, there he was, haughtily leaning against the hospital door and holding a styrofoam cup.
"Plasmius," he spat out distastefully, not caring the nurse was present. She frowned slightly and looked over at the entity the boy had addressed.
Giving Danny a small smirk in response to hearing his alter ego's title, he sauntered up to the nurse, adjusting his red bolo tie. "I must apologize for his behavior; he has quite the temper." The billionaire gave a fake sigh, feigning parent-like worry. "It's best you step out. I can take it from here."
"Yes, Dr. Masters." Picking up the unused IV equipment, she set them down on Danny's bedside table and left the room, gently closing the door behind her. Before Danny could question why the nurse referred to his arch-enemy as 'Dr. Masters', Vlad seized the front of the 14-year-old's hospital gown and roughly brought him to eye-level, his eyes flashing red when he yelled, "What the hell did you get yourself into?"
Having been manhandled, the boy felt another dizzy spell overcome his vision and didn't acknowledge the older half ghost's interrogation, who proceeded to shake Danny shortly but violently in an attempt to gain a response. "ANSWER ME, BOY! What the hell did you get yourself into?!"
"I-I don't know." Danny groaned, bringing his shaking hands up to his now pounding head. This was all coming too fast for him to process.
"Blast!" Hissed Vlad, ceasing the violent shaking to pull Danny close so they were intimidatingly face to face. The smell of coffee hung off his impeccable attire, and his dark eyes appeared more hooded than usual. "I didn't come to Colorado to wait in this wretched place for 3 days just to hear you say 'I don't know.'"
Indeed. Too fast. "I've been here three days?! But I thoug-"
"Don't change the subject!" Tell me what happened!"
"Put me down, and then maybe I'll fill you in." The young hybrid responded through gritted teeth. As much as he wanted to scream insults, his body was in no condition for the roughhousing that would follow. Inevitable as it may be, the boy needed at least 2 seconds to recompose himself and think of something to tell Vlad before being thrown across the room. Something other than the truth, because Vlad would rejoice in hearing about Danny's evil self, and the boy really didn't want to go through that.
Masters contemplated for a moment, eventually dropping Danny back on the bed carelessly. He yelped as pain flooded through his sore limbs, especially his neck, which hadn't had the strength to hold up his head despite the presence of his hospital mattress to soften the fall.
"There. Enlighten me." He demanded as soon as Danny settled, taking a seat on the couch to Danny's left.
"Oh, did I say maybe?" The teenager prodded sarcastically, regaining his edge. "I meant never. You know how bad I am at English, too."
Vlad glared at Danny and suddenly stood back up, making Danny flinch. But didn't make a move towards the younger halfa, deciding he needed another tactic to get the teenager to talk.
"Three days ago...I was sitting down for breakfast when my maid brings me the Amity Park Angle newspa-"
"You live in Wisconsin." Danny pointed out, "Why on earth do you read the Amity-Park-Angle?"
A devilish smile turned the corners of Vlad's manipulative lips as he answered, "Why it's imperative I keep up with the happenings of the town your silly excuse of a father resided in. How could I dispose of him and win over Maddie if I'm not aware of his surroundings?"
Danny's eyes flashed menacingly green, and he opened his mouth to give another snide remark but was interrupted by his arch enemy's continued monologue.
"Anyways, imagine my surprise when I saw the front page." Plasmius's smirk grew into an eloquent grin. "Even I can't believe you had the audacity to kill your parents."
Did the older hybrid really think Daniel killed his parents? No. He knew the boy's love for his family (and friends) ran too thick to be described in words.
He also knew how to get right under the child's skin.
Along with Danny's anger, any remaining color in his face flushed away. No...this can't be...Vlad had to be playing with him. There was no way his parents...his parents...no...this had to be some sick dream! That's what it is...a sic-
"I must admit, Daniel, at first I was enraged. Your father was supposed to be mine for the taking." Plasmius went on. "I deserved to exact my revenge on the idiot who ruined my life. But then I realized it didn't matter who had the honors of destroying that fat oaf; the world is a much better place again thanks to you, little badger." Vlad mocked, pausing to wait for an angry response from Danny, but not receiving any sort of reply—not even a glare. The halfa's eyes were glazed over in the direction of his own lap, sorrow twinkling in their wake.
The billionaire took a short breath in to continue speaking. However, only air left his lips as he watched Danny lethargically lay back down and bring the bed covers over his disheveled dark hair, several stray strands refusing to hide and sticking up from underneath the sheets.
Vlad leaned forward and stared at the lump under the sheets. "What's wrong, little badger?" he teased, "Won't you talk with your dear Uncle Vlad?"
"Leave me alone." The lump said quietly, voice muffled.
"Not until you tell me what happened."
"Leave me alone." Danny repeated, "P...p-please."
So, you've stumbled upon my fanfiction.
First of all, I'd like to thank you for taking time out of your day to read this; I profoundly appreciate you giving this story a chance.
I don't consider myself much of a writer, to be frank. Being the reader is the most enjoyable position for me to be in. However, when I was searching for a fanfiction that illustrated the effects of Danny's family perishing in TUE I came across almost nothing, and the several fanfictions I did happen to find had been unfinished for several years, or extremely out of character. So, I took it onto myself to create the supposed "missing" story. Perhaps it was naive of me to have such a specific story in mind and expect it to be waiting for me on the internet. After all, each one of us is unique. Although contrary to that belief, I share this with the DP fandom in hopes of fulfilling your search for this particular alternate universe.
Through this fanfiction, I not only want to give you an interesting and complicated plot surrounding Danny and Vlad's unique dynamic but I hope to explore themes of life, love (not pompous pep), and loss. I want to highlight each of their more subtle character attributes, especially Vlad, who may be selfish and use the wrong means to achieve his desires, but we see in TUE that he is capable of redemption and restoring his faith in humanity.
So with that, I give you the decision to either continue reading or give up. The choice is yours.