She'd long since lost track of the days. Had she been here a week? A month? A lifetime? She had no idea. Every day was the same, anyway: woken up at a random time, taken to a lab, where faceless men in white suits did things to her. Strapped her to examination tables, and poked and prodded her with different instruments. Sometimes they used a machine to force her to change, leaving her screaming. Changing that way, when she didn't want to, hurt. Other times they'd cut her, leaving a million little lines of green or red on her body. Once in a while, they made her fight with something else: green creatures that made her feel cold when they appeared. Ghosts, the voice in the back of her mind said.

That little voice told her a lot of things: that the men were the Guys in White, a secret government agency involved with all things ectoplasmic and weird. That they were experimenting on her, because she was a half ghost. That her name was Danielle, that she was a clone of a boy named Danny.

Danny. A ghost of a smile touched her lips at the thought of his name. And as if on cue, a hand reached through the window of her room, stretching out to her. "Danielle? You there?"

She reached up, and grasped it tightly. "Hiya, cuz. Yeah, I'm here."

"How was today?"

"…About the same. No fighting today, and no cuts either. There was a new machine, though. I'm not really sure what it did. It didn't hurt like some of them do, though."

A pause. "Still, that's a little weird. They haven't done anything new in a while."

She squeezed his hand. "Aw, c'mon, Danny. What else can they really do to us?"

"True." He squeezed back, reassuringly. "They feed you yet?"

"Nuh uh. You?"

"Yeah. Here, I'll pass you some." The hand withdrew for a moment, then returning, holding half of a roll. "Eat up."

She frowned a little. "But don't you need it? And they'll feed me soon enough anyway..."

"I'll be fine, Dani. I promise. And they've forgotten to feed you before."

That was true. There had been a few cases where they just hadn't brought a meal for her. Sometimes for multiple meals in a row. Danny had started passing her parts of his rations as soon as he'd realized what they were doing. For some reason, they never seemed to forget to feed him. The quiet voice in the back of her head told her that that was something to worry about, but frankly, she didn't have the energy to care. She took the scrap of bread from him, slipping her hand into his in its place. His fingers tightened around hers again, and held her tightly as she ate. It wasn't much, but it helped to clear her thoughts a little. Not that thinking was a good thing, in a place like this.

For a while, the two sat quietly on opposite sides of the wall dividing them, wondering what the other was thinking. Then the girl spoke. "Danny? Do… d'you think we'll ever get out of here?"

"Of course we will, Danielle. I'm working on a plan already. Don't worry, we'll be out of here before you know it."

He sounded so confident. And it was Danny. If he said they were going to get out of this, that they were going to be ok, then they would. He'd never let her down before. And he'd been in sticky situations like this before, too. If anyone could get them out of this, it was him. She tightened her grip on his hand again, smiling. "I know you'll get us out of here. I just hope it's soon." He said nothing in reply, just tightened his grip on her hand again, and she smiled, taking it as reassurance. It wasn't long before she fell asleep that way, resting against the wall that divided them.

He was gone when she woke up. This wasn't unusual. Sometimes, they'd take only one of them for testing at a time. Still, she hated it. Being alone in this cold, white room was almost worse than being experimented on. At least that way, she could fight back, or try to. Here… here she was trapped, and helpless. But it wouldn't be for long. They never left her alone for long.

Some time later, they slid food through the slot in the bottom of her door. She took it wordlessly, eating quickly and efficiently. They gave you more than normal, the voice in the back of her head noted. As usual, the girl ignored it, and the implications it tried to raise. Food was good. Danny was good. Escape was good. Everything else was bad. That was all that mattered anymore.

One of those things continued to come, as the agents left her locked in her cell. She was fed regularly, as far as she could tell. But the room beside her, with its little window, stayed silent and empty. And no more men in white suits came to run tests on her or put her in machines or make her fight. She screamed at them, through the slot in the door. She begged them to bring her cousin back, to take her out of the room. She tried going ghost, and phasing through the walls, to no avail. She tried blasting her way free. She cried, and yelled, and punched the wall until her hands bleed.

After a while, she stopped eating the food they brought her, except in rare ravenous spurts. The rest of the time, she sat in a corner, huddled into a ball, still and silent. The little voice in the back of her head was gone. The only thing she remembered was that there was someone important, someone who was supposed to be there, and he was gone.

The small creature flinched as the door opened, and the brighter light assaulted her wide blue eyes. A man walked over and took her hand, saying things to her in a gentle voice. She didn't understand the words. Then he pulled her to her feet, and led her out of the room, down the hallway, and into a much bigger room. There was a table there, and the space was filled with the scent of the wide array of food laid out. From the man's gesture, apparently, it was all for her. She ate without a word or a sense of dignity, shoving whatever smelled best into her mouth. They let her stay there for a while, until she'd eaten her fill. Then they took her somewhere else, a more familiar room. She frowned, trying to remember. This was the place where… where… where she was supposed to fight. She didn't like this room. She started to back away, hoping they'd let her go back to the room with food, or the small white one they'd taken her from.

Before she could take more than a step, however, the weird chill hit her, and a figure was pushed into the room on the other side. She gasped involuntarily. It was familiar too: thin, tall, with a mess of white hair and a black jumpsuit. "Danny!" She croaked out, her voice quiet from lack of use. For the first time since he'd disappeared, she remembered who she was, and a spark of hope rose in her chest. They were supposed to get out of here. Together. And now that they were in the same room… maybe they could overpower the guards, and escape!

The boy stirred at her exclamation, taking a few awkward steps forward. It was clear that he'd had a rough time of it: the jumpsuit was riddled with precise slashes, and coated in green. His hair fell across his face, covering his eyes. Still, it was Danny. Alive, and there, in the same room. If he was here, everything could be ok.

Then the men in white said something, and the boy growled, lifting his head to stare directly at her for the first time. His red eyes were cold and emotionless. There was no hint of recognition in his expression whatsoever.

"D-danny?"

The last thing she remembered was him lunging towards her, hands glowing green. Then everything went black.