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Chapter 3: Aesita.
"Choose, Daniel, or I'll leave you here for the rest of your life."
"I-I don't know." Danny said, looking away.
"They don't love you." Mr Strad said with a frown. "If they loved you, they would have accepted you. They would at least visit you."
"But...they're my parents."
Danny couldn't explain what he was feeling; this turmoil of emotion that had his stomach rolling and his sluggish mind reeling. He wanted to leave the asylum, more than anything, but he also wanted go home, not be confined to some stranger's mysterious school, thrust into a war for the freedom of humanity.
He wanted to be a teenager again...that's all he wanted.
"It's not fair." Phantom whispered.
"It's not fair." Danny repeated aloud. "Why can't things just be normal again?"
At this, Mr. Strad's face softened, and he crossed the room, taking a seat by the boy's side.
"Some people aren't made for the normal or the mundane." He said, resting a gloved hand on Danny's shoulder. "I was about your age when the shade found me, but unlike you, I knew nothing of the paranormal...I thought that I was crazy...and that I belonged in a place like this. But I didn't, and neither do you, Daniel. Your powers were gifted to you for a reason."
"Danny-"
"I'll do it." The boy said, cutting Phantom off. "As long as you keep your promises, I'll do it."
"Excellent." The man said, getting abruptly to his feet. "I need to go negotiate with the owner of this establishment, but I'm sure he'll let you go. They always do when given the right...incentives."
"I doubt he will." Danny scoffed. "You don't know him."
"I can be very persuasive." Mr. Strad said with a sly grin. "Don't worry about me."
Vlad visited the asylum often, if only to check on Daniel. That poor boy, confined to a single room, cut off from most human contact, forced to endure a life of monotony. Vlad knew how it felt...he knew how the loneliness would soon start to claw at his insides, and twist his kind-hearted naivety into something darker, something Vlad could use. He hadn't wanted to play so dirty. Truly, he'd wanted to win the boy over using civil means, but, sometimes, circumstances change, and he was tired of waiting.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Masters." The receptionist said with a fake smile.
The man greeted her in return, and continued up to his office, where a pile of paperwork, and a wall of security screens awaited him. Vlad was a man who liked being in control. There were many aspects of his empire that he chose to take care of himself (which was an easy feat when one could duplicate themselves). There had been many nights when, upon hearing of troubles in the institution, he had taken a seat in his office, and watched the drama unfold, catching the culprit every time, and instilling in them a fear of his ghostly half. They told stories of him, yes, but who would believe any of it? It was a mental institution. Vlad could do whatever he pleased.
Most days, Daniel would simply lie on his bed...but on this day, Vlad saw that the boy was not alone. There was a man on the blurry screen, his clothing darkly contrasting with the white that dominated the institution. The nurses wore white, the doctors wore white, the patients wore white. However, this man, this...intruder was dressed in a dark suit. That could only mean one thing...
An outsider had come to see Daniel.
"Sarah, I thought that I specified that D287 was not to have any visitors." The billionaire hissed into the intercom on his desk. There was a pause before the woman answered.
"I'm sorry Mr. Masters, but the computer indicated that you'd lifted the ban."
"I did nothing of the sort!" Vlad snarled, his vision turning red. "Who is it?"
"A man named Mr. Strad, sir. And, he said that he would like to talk to you after seeing the patient."
"I bet he would! Send him up here, immediately!"
Vlad leaned back in his chair, huffing angrily, his hand straying to the button on his desk that would hide the security screens from view. Sometimes, it was best not to let others know how much power and knowledge you held. Secrets were a man's best friend.
Now, he only had to wait for Daniel's mysterious visitor to arrive. The ghost in him hated waiting. It wanted to fly down to the boy's room and rip and tear and shred and scream-
But, Vlad was civilized. He would wait. Patience is a virtue, after all.
It wasn't long before there was a soft, timid knock at the door.
"Yes?" He called.
"Mr. Masters." The receptionist said. "Mr. Strad would like to speak with you."
"Let him in then." The hybrid replied, sitting up in his chair. The door opened, and the stranger stepped inside, wearing a pristine black suit, his dark hair slicked back. He was a man of style, but there was something about him that set the hybrid on edge; something slimy and wrong that made his ghost half squirm.
"Good evening." The stranger said, smiling politely. "My name is Mr. Strad."
"And I am Vladimir Masters." Vlad replied, his hand motioning toward an empty chair across from him. "Take a seat, and we can begin our talk."
Mr. Strad quietly shut the door before sitting down, still smiling, almost crookedly now...or perhaps Vlad was just imagining things.
"Would you like to tell me why you're here?" Vlad asked, doing nothing to hide his hostility.
"I would like to bargain with you, Mr. Masters." Strad replied. "You have a patient here that's of most interest to me."
"Is that so? Well, there are many patients here. Is it Howard Denning? He fancies that he can talk to fish."
Mr. Strad chuckled.
"No. Not at all. Actually, I'm interested in one Daniel James Fenton?"
The hybrid scoffed. Of course. This man would take interest in the one patient he actually cared about.
"Why Daniel?"
"I believe I can help his condition."
Vlad closed his eyes, struggling to keep himself composed. Why had he come for Daniel, out all the people in the institution, why him?It left a sour taste in the hybrid's mouth.
"I'm afraid Daniel must stay here. He isn't responding well to treatment."
The stranger frowned before leaning forward in his chair, extending his hands imploringly.
"Mr. Masters, I run a school that specializes in his kind of ailment. Surely you must know that it would be better if he were around others his own age. Only then can he get over his...psychosis. Socialization is the key."
Vlad shook his head.
"Daniel's parents approved my methods. He will stay here."
The hybrid's tone was final.
He didn't like anyone asking around for Daniel, let alone proposing to take him away. The ghost under his skin pushed against its confines, yearning to rip and shred, but Vlad had better control than that. He was capable of handling things in a civil manner, even if his goals were threatened. He had done so much to secure Daniel in his institute, like hell some prissy headmaster of some school was going to simply walk away with him.
"I'll make you an offer."
What? Vlad narrowed his eyes. What was he saying?
"Money is nothing for me, Mr. Masters." The stranger continued, reaching into his jacket pocket, pulling out a leather checkbook. "Anything you wish, you may have."
The hybrid laughed. He couldn't help it. Did this fool not know who he was? He was Vladimir Masters, billionaire. Most of the country was his, and some of Canada as well.
"Put that away." Vlad snapped. "You can't buy me."
"What else can I do to convince you?"
"Nothing." Vlad snarled, getting to his feet. "We're through here."
Mr. Strad's gloved hand shot out, seizing the hybrid's wrist in a surprisingly strong grip. Vlad tried to pull away, but the man only gripped tighter, his face twisting into a cruel grimace.
"I'm sorry you feel that way." The man hissed through his teeth. Vlad gasped as dark tendrils began snaking up from the collar of the man's shirt, running over his face and staining his eyes an inky, soulless black.
Vlad immediately sent a jolt of ecto-energy through their connection, pulling away and cradling his wrist, as though burned.
"What the hell are you?" The man demanded.
"I could ask you the same thing." Mr. Strad replied, his voice low and distorted. "Are you protecting him? You don't need to. I can take him off your hands."
The creature chuckled darkly, and attempted to take a few steps forward, but Vlad fired an ectoblast between them, and set up a shield, preventing him from advancing any further.
"Do you really want to know what I am?" The thing asked, flashing a toothy grin. "I once lived in the darkest reaches of the darkest world, all alone, until I found this human, and made him my home. I like your world, just the way it is, and I intend to do all I can to maintain order."
"You're overshadowing that man. The real Mr. Strad."
"We live here together." The thing hissed. "There's enough room in this shell."
"And your name?" Vlad demanded.
"Aesita." The creature replied. It pulled the gloves from Mr. Strad's hands, showing a maze of black tendrils writhing along the pale skin. "Daniel is rotting from the inside out. If you leave him here much longer, he will be useless to me, and to you."
"I know what I'm doing." The hybrid snarled,
Aesita turned its inky eyes in the man's direction, twisting the man's face into a wry smirk.
"No you don't."
Black shot from the man's hands, like inky claws, breaking effortlessly through Vlad's shield and digging into his chest. Aesita pushed the man back against the closed door, lifting him off of his feet, grinning as he gasped for air like a fish.
"Daniel wants to go with me." It said. "He said so. He knows what I am. He knows what Strad's school is for. Anything is better than this place you call an institution."
"No." Vlad gasped as his vision began to dim. Daniel was supposed to join him...was supposed to be his son. Soon. He only had to wait. Soon, Daniel would see the light, and he would agree to go back to Wisconsin. Vlad would finally have what he wanted.
It was perfect. It wasn't supposed to fail.
"We'll save your world, Vladimir." The hybrid heard Aesita snarl as the world faded around him.
"But you'll always be alone..."
