Hello there! I am alive! And I finally managed to get past my horrific block to at long last start writing this, my first ATDD fic.

Dedicated to the fabulous Lucien Jay, who I know is also trying to work through a block for an ATDD fic. Good luck buddy, and thanks for all your support!

Amnesia: The Dark Descent (c) Frictional Games.

Daniel tossed in his bed, shaking the four-poster drapes as he fretted. His feet kicked and thrashed at the covers that twisted around them, only making the tangling worse.

From his seat by Daniel's bed, Alexander smiled slightly to himself and reached out to smooth Daniel's sweat-damp fringe out of his flushed and anxious face. Daniel quieted for a moment and seemed to relax, until the Shadow took hold of him and thrust him back into the world of nightmare. Alexander swallowed the impulse to wake the troubled young man; they had learned from experience that to wake him prematurely would be as good as inviting the Shadow's wrath down upon their heads.

Instead he watched over Daniel as he tried to sleep, ready to intervene if things got too serious. He wouldn't have slept a great deal regardless of his duty as guard over Daniel; a being such as he had no need for rest.

Daniel thrashed again and woke, opening his eyes cautiously as if he expected ephemeral figures to leap at him. Alexander coughed slightly to announce his presence, in case Daniel had forgotten he had asked Alexander to watch him. Daniel sat up properly at the noise and tugged his nightshirt down from where it had twisted up around his hips.

"Nightmares again," Alexander said blandly.

Daniel nodded grimly and took a glass of water from the bedside table, his hand shaking slightly. "They seem to only be getting worse, Baron."

"The Shadow is getting closer," Alexander acknowledged with a brief bow of his head, watching his guest and friend drink to steady his nerves. "The nightmares will become worse for you."

"I know that, Alexander," Daniel said testily. "I've been feeling it for the past few weeks, haven't I?"

There was a pregnant pause as Daniel realised he had stepped outside the bounds of courtesy with Alexander; though the man was his friend, he was also a dangerous man and he seemed either shocked or hurt, Daniel couldn't decide which.

"You are tired," Alexander said tightly, moving to the door. "I shall leave you to your rest."

"Baron, wait, please," Daniel called, fighting the covers to go to the Baron's side. Hesitantly he put a hand on Alexander's arm, the other holding his nightshirt hem self-consciously. "I'm sorry, Baron. I was very rude, and I'm sorry. I know you are trying to help me, and I thank you for it."

"It is forgiven," Alexander said magnanimously, ever the gracious host, smiling briefly at Daniel and patting his hand. "You are over-tired."

"Thank you," Daniel said in relief. "These nightmares… they seem to make me behave in ways I normally would not. Seek out explanations and solutions I normally would never dream of. I did not mean to snap."

"I quite understand, Daniel. Although it is not I who is plagued by this Shadow, I know of the effect it has had on you – and of those of your acquaintance. I knew what I was undertaking when I invited you here."

"I don't believe I can ever thank or repay you enough for giving me shelter like this, and for helping me unravel the mysteries of the orbs." Daniel said in a small voice, looking at his feet.

"Good," Alexander said, smiling a little. "For there is nothing to repay. Your company is all I require."

"Why should that be, Baron?" Daniel asked innocently.

Alexander pushed his hands into the pockets of his bathrobe. "I have been alone a long time, Daniel. Yes, I am a Baron, but one's rank tends to be alienating. The lower classes would not dare attract my attention on the level of an equal, and those higher than my station scorn my relatively low position of authority. As such, I have spent much of my long, long life alone." He paused meditatively, eyes flicking up to the cobwebby ceiling as he presumably thought back along the years of his life.

"A guest in my home… that is most welcome. And such a knowledgeable, interesting guest as well." Alexander's attention abruptly focussed back on Daniel and he gave one of his rare, full smiles. Daniel smiled back instinctively, a sense of peace soothing his distressed mind as he saw the simple contentment on Alexander's normally troubled and distracted face.

"Alexander…" Daniel asked hesitantly, unsure whether he should be calling the Baron by his first name. They were close, certainly, but sometimes, when Daniel had made a mistake, the Baron preferred to distance himself so as not to let out his anger on Daniel.

Alexander lifted his eyebrows, inviting further query, so Daniel carried on. "Alexander, could you stay with me a while? Just until I can get over that nightmare and sleep again, I don't want to stop you from doing what you want—" he hurried to add, until Alexander silenced him with an elegant wave of his hand.

"I too would prefer some company this night," He said, sitting back in the chair. "On stormy nights such as these, it is better to spend the time with another, rather than jumping at shadows, or at the banging of a door blown by the wind."

Daniel thought his look as he said this was a little too kind and understanding for him to feel comfortable, but he was glad Alexander wanted to stay. He hadn't had the courage to admit to Alexander yet that he was frightened of the dark, and that not all of his nightmares were the effect of the Shadow. Brennenburg was a large castle, after all, and much disused in places. They scared him.

Sometimes, however, he had the feeling Alexander knew a lot more than he was letting on, especially about Daniel's movements around his castle in the time they spent apart.

Daniel settled back under his covers, sitting up to look at Alexander. The Baron looked at him curiously for a few moments before speaking.

"We have never spoken of family, have we?"

"Not that I recall, no," Daniel replied, a slight tightening in his chest as he shied away from his memories.

"Is it a sensitive subject?" Alexander asked gently, watching Daniel closely. Daniel looked down at his hands to find them clenching the bedsheets in a white-knuckled grip. He forced himself to relax and nodded.

"Would you rather we not discuss it?"

Daniel looked up at Alexander, meeting his strange yellow gaze squarely. He found an odd comfort in that look, knowing he could trust the Baron.

"No, it's alright. Some of it is… painful, but I can handle it. Things with my family are… complicated."

Alexander smiled briefly. "Family matters are seldom otherwise, I've found."

Daniel's mouth quirked up for a moment as he looked at his hands. "My father never approved of my decision to become an archaeologist. He thought it was a waste. Our family isn't very wealthy, you see, and I was the first in the family to attend university. My father, he thought I was wasting all that money and time by going into such a field. He thought I would be better off following in his footsteps, into industry." Daniel sighed, hunching over slightly. "He could be a harsh man, quick to judge. He could be cruel when he chose."

Alexander's eyes flicked briefly to Daniel's hands, which were shaking. Almost unconsciously Daniel touched his ribs, as if to an old wound.

"I see," Alexander said quietly. "But you chose your path regardless of his censure."

Daniel clenched his jaw and nodded. "I did. He may have been my father, but he is not the controller of my life. I wanted to prove I can be my own man, with my own interests. I don't think he ever understood that, and I never had the chance to smooth things over with him." Daniel bit his lip, still staring down at his hands twisting in the bedsheets. "I went to him, to talk, before I left for Algeria. He refused to open the door. He said I was no son of his."

For quite some time the only sound was the wind in the eaves and the frenetic whipping of the trees in the forest outside as the storm raged on. Alexander surveyed Daniel in silence.

"I think I understand now," he said eventually in a soft voice.

"Pardon?"

"I did wonder, when I read your letter, why you had chosen to take the Orb, and why you were so keen to investigate them. I see now you were trying to prove yourself to your father, to prove that the so-called 'waste' of your profession could deliver results. For reconciliation."

"I hadn't thought of it like that—" Daniel stammered.

"No, of course not," Alexander interrupted him gently, smiling a little. "I quite understand. Sometimes, what drives us can surprise us, only make itself apparent after a great amount of time. Sometimes you need a fresh eye on things, as it were. Don't fret about it, Daniel. I'm sure you'll have a chance to reconcile with your father."

A melancholy note had entered his voice at the last, and Daniel looked up curiously. "Alexander? Did you… I mean to say, were you not on good terms with your father either?"

Alexander's expression turned bitter for a moment. "I'm afraid not. Rather like your father, he did not understand my choices, could not bring himself to try. I forsook him, and my family, long ago. When I came here, I vowed to start afresh. Without them." He stopped abruptly, looking very old for a moment. Of course, he never looked young but now he looked weary, as if he had been carrying a burden for far too long.

Daniel wasn't really sure what to say to that, but his mouth ran away with him. "Did you say when you came here? Did you not inherit your title from your father?"

Alexander slowly looked up to meet Daniel's eyes, a heavy knowledge in his stare. "There are some secrets, Daniel, that can never be told."

Daniel swallowed nervously and broke the look. "I'm sorry you didn't get the chance to talk things over with him," he stuttered, trying to steer the conversation into safer waters.

"It's not your fault," Alexander said, visibly throwing off his gloom. "I'll see them again soon."

"Alexander, you mustn't talk like that!" Daniel exclaimed, shocked. He leaned forward and put his hand on the Baron's wrist, squeezing a little. "To be sure, you aren't a young man, per se, but I'm sure you have many years yet before – before it is your time."

To Daniel's surprise, Alexander started to laugh. It started as merely a chuckle that grew and echoed around the room; Alexander's shoulders shook and he patted Daniel's hand.

"Was it something I said?" Daniel asked with a slight hint of petulance.

"Oh my, Daniel," Alexander laughed. Calming down a bit, he smiled at the young man. "You are a good, kind man, and I thank you for your concern. You are quite right of course, quite right indeed."

"Well then," Daniel said firmly, sitting back. "I'm glad you're a bit happier. I don't like seeing you upset, Alexander – there's no cause for it."

Alexander inclined his head. "Quite right," he said again. More seriously, he continued, "I am sorry about your father, Daniel. Once we have defeated the Shadow you'll be free to go home, and I'm sure he will accept you one way or the other."

"I doubt it," Daniel said soberly. "I think it's likely the Shadow will have taken him by now. It took all my friends and colleagues, why not my family too?"

"Did you see him when you returned to London from Algeria?"

"Well, no, after what he had said I didn't wish to travel to Canterbury—"

"Then I think it is likely the Shadow will not touch him." Alexander said, putting his hands in his pockets matter-of-factly. "It seems to have only struck down those who helped you enquire into the Orb after you took it from the ruins. It seems only concerned with its charge, not you in particular."

Daniel digested that for a few moments. "Still," he said grimly, "My father is not the forgiving type. He sent Hazel away, after all."

"Hazel?" Alexander enquired politely.

"My little sister," Daniel explained, smiling briefly. "A very special girl. But my father couldn't stand her… her difference. He thought she brought shame on him. So he sent her away to the asylum."

"That seems a shame," Alexander said neutrally. Daniel sighed in response. "So you think it unlikely he will accept what you know about the Orbs, accept you?"

Daniel didn't reply, but his hands clenched in the bedsheets.

"You know him and I do not," Alexander said, turning his palms to the ceiling in a gesture of futility. "I am not the best judge of him. It may be as you say. If it is, I am sorry. Truly. If things should not fall out satisfactorily with him, know that you are welcome in my home, Daniel."

"Thank you, Baron," Daniel smiled. "I may have to take you up on that. I wouldn't want you to be alone here, after all." He stifled a yawn as his tiredness caught up with him.

Alexander patted his hand and got up to leave. "I shall let you rest," he said generously. "I shall be in my study if you require me. Good night, Daniel."

"Good night, Alexander. And thank you, again."

Alexander waved his hand – it was no trouble, think nothing of it – and softly closed the door behind himself.

He walked through the dark halls and corridors, one thought in his mind like a mantra. We have only each other in this world.

He paced down through the levels of Brennenburg, not really noticing where he was going until he found himself standing before Agrippa's paralysed husk of a body.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Herr Baron?" Agrippa asked. "Are you well, my friend?"

"I am quite well, thank you," Alexander replied, a humorous twist to his words. "It is thanks to your knowledge that we have both lived this long, after all."

"Very true," Agrippa replied smugly. "But what brings you down here, Baron? You haven't visited me in quite some time."

Taking the hint, Alexander absently made up some more of Agrippa's potion, to keep him alive even in a husk. Feeding it to his old friend carefully, he sighed. "I was talking with Daniel about family."

"I see," Agrippa said. "Missing those on the other side, Baron?"

"Some," Alexander hedged, frowning slightly. "Lately I have not been remembering them as clearly as I used to. I am forgetting them, Agrippa. After all this time of preserving the memories in the canisters, in vain."

"Maybe it is time to let them go, Baron. Maybe it is time you forget this quest to return home."

"How can you say that, Agrippa? You know that to return is all I want from this world. I must return home." But even as he said the words there was a lack of conviction to them, a hollowness in his tone that spoke of a ritual phrase, something said so often it becomes automatic.

"If you are forgetting them, becoming preoccupied with other matters, like Daniel, it would seem your purpose has wavered, Baron." Agrippa gently replied.

"You and Daniel are all I have in this world that I care about," Alexander said harshly, folding his arms and looking away from Agrippa, even though the corpse-like man couldn't see him with his earthly eyes. "This castle, it's fineries and fripperies, that can all go to dust for all I care. The Shadow can take it, and to Hell with it. I have only one purpose left to me, Agrippa: to use the power of Daniel's Orb to return home. If I can free him from the Shadow along the way, I will try my utmost. He deserves better."

"Feeling sorry for the boy?" Agrippa said, chuckling. "He should have known better than to steal the Orb from its resting place. Or failing that, he should have had the courage to face his fate in Algeria and not gotten all his friends killed."

"It's done now," Alexander said coldly, a vein in his forehead jumping for a moment. "He wasn't to know what powers he was dealing with. That's why he came to me, after all."

Agrippa was stunned into silence. But only for a little while – he was starved of company, and was sick of being alone with no one to talk to.

"It seems you really do care for him, Baron."

Alexander lifted his chin, eyes glittering with a cool fire. "Yes. His family have forsaken him, from what he tells me, and there is little chance he will be redeemed in their eyes. How is he to make a living with the knowledge that the last Professor to take him under wing was killed, and Daniel the only survivor? He will be isolated from his peers for the sake of suspicion. I am alone on this mortal plane. We have only each other in this world."

"Why did you come to me, Alexander?" Agrippa asked wearily.

"Your circumstances are unique, Agrippa. The potion we use on you, it cannot work on another person. It cannot work on Daniel, more to the point. I know you know of something that could help him."

"You want to extend his life? Alexander, you cannot take him with you. He would not survive the journey!"

"You don't know that for certain. You never had the courage to follow your apprentice."

"And I am paying for that now!" Agrippa said angrily. "He does not belong with you, Alexander. He is mortal, with a mortal family here in this plane. You have no right to what you ask. You cannot take him with you!"

Alexander narrowed his eyes. "I have found your apprentice's notes, Agrippa. Young Weyer was working on something to free you, you know. I have its formula in my possession."

"Are you trying to blackmail me, Baron Brennenburg?" Agrippa spat.

"Tell me how to save Daniel, and I will free you and take you with us through the portal. Do we have a deal?"

"This is wrong, Alexander. I beg of you, do not do this!"

Alexander set his jaw. "Or I could leave you here to rot for eternity. What is it to be?"

"A curse on your head and home!" Agrippa said, self-loathing evident in his voice. "And may the Devil take my bones, I will help you bring Daniel with you."

"Tell me what I must do."

Much later, as Alexander left the room, he knew he had forever destroyed his friendship with Agrippa. It saddened him and it grieved him to force his ancient friend to his will in such a way, but Daniel needed him. That was all that was important.

He silently entered the guest room, sitting beside Daniel as he fought to sleep peacefully. A gentle smile pealed over Alexander's features and he rested his hand on Daniel's forehead, seeing how it calmed the young man.

"Don't fret, Daniel," he whispered, stroking his face with careful fingers. "Soon you shall be saved."

Daniel slept on, oblivious of Alexander's plans.