Slight, short change in POV just to add some outside perspective. Then back to Vlad's somewhat distorted POV. (Also, just to be clear, this isn't going to become slash.)
Thanks for the reviews from jeanette9a, D for Danielle and ChopSuzi! They always make me happy!
In the beginning, it hadn't been all that scary. A little scary, sure, but Danny Phantom fought ghosts all the time, and they were all a little scary, even the goofy ones. On some level, he'd still believed that he'd win, that if he fought and believed hard enough that he'd earn a happy ending. It was a truth so fundamental that he'd never thought about it, just took it for granted.
He hadn't been entirely aware when they first put him in the cage. They'd had to knock him around before they could catch him, and he'd lost track of Tucker and Sam during the course of the chase, focused on trying to get away. Danny had reverted to the human form before being imprisoned, and was still bruised and aching from the end of the fight. He'd thought that, now that he'd lost the ghost form, they'd realize he was a human. He hadn't thought about the fact that he set off his parents' ghost detectors even in the human form. Sometimes it was almost painful to realize what a stupid kid he'd been.
They wouldn't really talk to him, and that only annoyed him at first. They talked to each other, discussing the dips and peaks of his ectoplasmic energy and the human 'shell' that he kept trying to explain was the real him, comparing changes caused by various kinds of stress, and comparing him to the other sample. Eventually, they talked at him, telling him what to do and ignoring whatever he said in return. He thought maybe he'd have gone crazy just from that, if there hadn't been someone else to talk to, someone who didn't pretend not to hear him.
The other sample looked more like a ghost, with blue skin and red eyes. There was something hungry about him that went beyond the thinness of his frame, unsettling even before the two of them spoke. Just before the lights were turned out at the end of the first day, the man had smiled at him, a humorless smile with sharp teeth.
"I didn't think there would be another one." His voice had been almost conversational, but there was something about it that set Danny on edge. "I suppose if it happened once it could happen again."
"What could happen again?" Danny had tried squinting to see more easily through the dark, but the faint glow of the glass between them made it difficult to make out more than general details. "What are you talking about?"
"A human and a ghost. Very unusual. Very strange. I thought I was unique. I wonder if they'll still have a use for me?" He had sounded faintly amused by the question, as if what they were discussing was of no consequence at all. "But you're so young. It'll be much harder on you."
Danny hadn't been able to make any sense of the other ghost at first. He'd spoken in rambling, disconnected sentences, only improving after Danny had been with him for a while and they'd grown used to talking to each other. "What does that mean? Aren't you a ghost?"
"Well, yes. Some of me." The man had shifted his weight, and despite the difficulty in focusing on his features, Danny imagined he could see that same awful smile. "And part of me is human. Would you like to see?"
He hadn't been sure he did, but nodded anyway before adding out loud, "Okay, fine. Show me." He didn't believe it yet.
The black rings that drew over the older man had been clear even through the glass. What was left was a man almost skeletal in frame, hunched over, the heavy shadows cast over his body only making the deformation of his shape more prominent. He'd barely seen the human body before the ghost form returned, but it was definitely too long.
Days had passed and the room had begun to look very different to Danny. His initial confidence wavered and finally collapsed, replaced with anxious desperation. The other man had predicted the change, told him with strange confidence what was going to happen to Danny's mind as time went on. Like so much the man said, Danny had ignored it at first, unable to accept what his reality had become. Now, looking back, he thought it would have been much worse alone. The desperation turned to anger, something that could drive him to endure the pain but which had no outlet, his separation from his captors too absolute for him to strike at them with anything but words which they ignored. Then he fell into emptiness, like the despair before but seemingly absolute, a belief that there was no use in holding on any longer and that he should simply lay down and wait to die. He had tried to ignore the other man's insistence that he couldn't stop there, that there was some level past that too, and that giving into that feeling wouldn't help. He'd believed that he was used up, and he couldn't possibly have the strength to recover from the depth he'd fallen to. Maybe that misery would have lasted indefinitely if he'd been alone, but he wasn't alone. The blue half-ghost had pulled him out of it with strange patience. Eventually the madness of the other man made perfect sense and Danny had realized that he was beginning to drift into that same mental space, learning to divide himself into two. There was the Danny who was hurt or watched the other man hurt and the Danny who hid in the dark and described his life, reliving it through those stories. The transition wasn't smooth at first, but it was better than the despair, and more productive than the anger.
Escape had come as a surprise to him, and he still didn't understand how it happened, but his captivity hadn't been so long that he'd forgotten entirely the fact that he wanted to go home again. The other man seemed to have no home, or none he spoke of. At first, Danny had thought he was just being secretive, but even when they were free to go wherever they liked, he seemed to have no goal in mind, no family or loved ones to return to. Danny couldn't quite understand how long he'd been there. He knew it had to be years, at least, but how many years? One or two? A dozen? More?
He had to believe that his family would accept him. It wasn't so much faith as helplessness, because he couldn't bear anything else. Keeping himself moving toward had taken all his energy, although dragging the other half-ghost with him hadn't been a strain. If anything, it had given him a distraction, just like when they were together in that nightmare. Something to focus on other than his own pain or fear.
Everything had sped up once they arrived, the almost dreamlike state of their journey ending abruptly as he had to face his family and try to explain what he was and what had happened. In an odd way, the older man's interference had helped, by forcing his hand. He couldn't let them kill him, not after all they'd survived. It had always been easier for him to defend someone other than himself.
His parents still loved him and they wanted to help. They really did. But they had absolutely no idea of the depth of what had happened, and he couldn't just tell them. Even thinking about what had happened made him freeze up now, each detail too hard to look at too closely. Being alone with them made him anxious, even though he didn't think they wanted to hurt him. It was a strange relief when he realized the other half-ghost was there, even unseen.
That would be hard to explain too. It shouldn't feel safer to be alone with him, not really. That hadn't been true safety, the other man had no ability to protect him when the lights went on again. But it had been the closest to safety either could manage. Other people were a threat, a sign something horrible was going to happen. Even his parents. Even Jazz. How was he going to face Sam and Tucker again? How could he go back to school? Each little aspect of life seemed like an insurmountable obstacle. There was still the risk that the government would come after them again. Coming home probably was stupid, just like the other man said. He just couldn't think of anywhere else to go, and tried to justify it to himself.
The idea that the other man knew his parents was ridiculous. It couldn't be true. Danny didn't know what other explanation there was, other than maybe the man just lying, but it made no sense to him. The name Vlad was awful, anyway. He couldn't really make himself associate that name with the half ghost, and wasn't sure if it was because the name was weird or because he'd gotten used to not thinking of the man with any name attached.
He didn't want to sleep, either. He looked back at the tiny bits of memory he could stand, tried to convince himself that someday he'd feel normal again, closed his eyes and grew increasingly anxious that he'd open them and see that room again, this whole escape a dream. The other half-ghost, Vlad, was there, though, the sense of him at the edge of Danny's ghost sense comforting and familiar. If that guy could keep going despite all that had happened, could Danny really let himself give up now? And it wasn't just holding on for his own sake. It was for his family, his friends, even for Vlad. Fighting ghosts had been a lot easier than fighting his memory, but he had to keep fighting.
Finally sleep came to him, the intense stress beginning to wash away, replaced by an unbearable exhaustion that he'd ignored for too long.
Daniel had finally gone still. He snored a bit, which Vlad took as a sign that he was starting to relax.
Fully sleeping seemed too dangerous, so Vlad folded the sleeping bag in half and sat on it rather than lying down, only dozing for a few minutes at a time. This place wasn't quite the safe haven Daniel had wished for, even with the apparent acceptance by his parents of his ghost half. The boy seemed determined to ignore the danger of coming to a place their pursuers would know, and equally determined to stay here for the foreseeable future. If it became a critical problem, Vlad would act on Daniel's behalf despite him, but for now, it was easier to simply keep a watchful eye out while Daniel took the opportunity to recover some of his strength.
Despite the lightness of his sleep, Vlad found himself dreaming intermittently, most of his dreams forgotten as he snapped awake again. All that he recalled from them were emotional impressions, a sense of urgency and fear, which began to fade once he awoke. They made it much easier to try to resist sleeping. He could rest properly some time when Daniel was more alert, and when he was sure the younger half-ghost was fully aware of the danger to them both.
One of his short half-naps was interrupted by the bedroom door creaking open, light from the hallway spilling into the room as a narrow band that widened as the door opened further. Vlad sat up straight, alert, but it was Daniel's father checking on him again.
Jack didn't seem to notice Vlad at first, just looking at his sleeping son with an expression that was a strange mix of worry and relief. It took a moment for him to shift his gaze to the rest of the room, and see the faintly glowing shape near the wall opposite Daniel's bed. The hallway illuminated Jack's face and the look of awkward confusion that settled there.
"Uh... Vladdie?" Jack tilted his head a bit, as if trying to get a new perspective to see things more clearly. "So, this is where you went, huh?"
It was such an obvious statement that Vlad didn't bother responding, only giving Jack a faintly sour look for trying to start up a conversation again. He played with the idea of turning invisible to give Jack a hint, but decided against it. Jack knew he was there, and Vlad had no intention of actually leaving while Daniel was unconscious.
Jack kept staring at him, obviously searching for something else to say. His eyes drifted down, and he finally said, "Is that Danny's sleeping bag?"
"Yes." What an odd question. If Vlad could tell the whole family was peculiar, they must be very peculiar indeed, he thought. "He loaned it to me."
"That was nice of him." Jack peered over at Danny's sleeping form. "The couch downstairs folds into a bed, y'know."
"He told me."
"Okay." Jack seemed to be thinking through what to say next, although it wasn't clear to Vlad what was on his mind. "Danny said something about you guys being locked up together. That you helped him with some of the really bad stuff that went on."
"Yes." He still wasn't sure where the other man was going with this.
"Well... thanks." Jack glanced back at his son one last time before turning back to Vlad. "You don't have to be all sneaky around the house. Even if we weren't already friends, you helped Danny out."
The longer the conversation went on, the more uncomfortable it got. "Fine." It wasn't as if he'd been holding back out of a sense of unworthiness. Jack kept giving him that odd concerned, confused look, and didn't move. Irritated, Vlad said, "If you stand there with the door open, Daniel may wake up."
"Uh, right." At least Jack took the hint. "Well... see you later."
Vlad didn't bother responding, and after one more awkward pause Jack closed the door.
Once alone again, Vlad relaxed a bit more. Thus far, he felt more uncomfortable with Jack's excessive familiarity than with anything else. Even the peculiar sensation of looking at Maddie and not quite remembering was easier to push aside, now that he'd begun to grow used to seeing her. The fact that he hadn't really carried on a conversation with her probably helped.
He didn't know much about the accident that had changed Daniel. For whatever reason, the boy seemed reluctant to talk about it. After meeting Jack, it was easier to understand how a child could be caught in an accident involving ectoplasm. Vlad's own accident was still a blur of impressions, but he remembered the important things now. A flash of green, pain, and Jack. The details were unimportant. The only question remaining was how to explain to Daniel that his father was to blame for everything. Jack seemed friendly enough, well-meaning, but unaware of how he affected others. In a strange way, it was more of an affront than if Vlad had believed the accidents had been deliberately staged, the result of malice instead of stupidity and carelessness.
As he began to let his thoughts drift again, pushing his anger to the side for now, the question of Maddie rose again unbidden. The details of her face were burned into his memory, long after he'd forgotten who those features belonged to or why they were important. There were obvious explanations... he'd been intimate friends with her, or had been romantically connected, or had even hated her and had simply forgotten why. The problem was that all of these explanations seemed insufficient when matched with the immediate urgency of thought at his first sight of her, far more powerful than his memories of Jack or even of himself.
Pushing at the memory didn't shake anything new loose, only inspired another headache that he took as a sign that he wasn't yet ready to recall her in full. The rest of the night passed quietly, only interrupted by another visit from one of Daniel's parents, this time Maddie herself. He kept his head down, pretending to sleep, while Maddie walked over to Daniel's bedside and put a hand lightly on him through the blanket. He shifted a little in his sleep at the touch, but didn't wake up. Reassured that her son was still there, she left then, only sparing Vlad a momentary glance.
Sunrise was extremely pleasant. Day being eased into place, rather than rudely announced by the abrupt switching on of an overhead light, was another subtle aspect of life that he'd forgotten. It also helped break the association between light and pain in his mind. Sudden, bright light was danger. Darkness was safety. Gentle, gradual light was new, not quite safety but the chance of another day without pain. The ability to control his fate through more than mental tricks was still hard to accept on some level, but once his initial shock had faded, he'd refused to let go of that awareness of freedom. He could, would protect Daniel now. His helplessness before was a driving force, the memory one that mustn't be pushed aside. That urgent concern kept him moving. It gave him something to focus on, something to hope for.
Both of Daniel's parents checked on him when morning came, Maddie's face tense with concern and Jack's set with determination. Vlad wondered what he was determined to do. As Daniel kept sleeping, the two of them looked to Vlad, and Jack gestured for Vlad to come out into the hallway with them. After looking over at Daniel, he refused with a shake of his head. It wouldn't be right for Daniel to wake up without him. Jack seemed unsure how to respond, but Maddie took on the stubborn expression that Jack had held moments before, and gestured more emphatically. If they were this set on talking to Vlad, he supposed they might start trying to call him over next, and wake up Daniel. He stood reluctantly and walked over.
They shut the door behind him before either spoke.
"Are you really Vlad? Vlad Masters?" Maddie lacked the strange enthusiasm of her husband at the idea. In fact, if Vlad had been asked to interpret her expression, he'd have said it was nauseated.
Daniel had told Vlad that his ghost form was 'pretty weird,' and not very human-like, though not the strangest ghost he'd seen. Vlad had some idea of that, although his mental self image had grown a bit hazy over the years. Jack had been almost too casual about the whole thing, clumsily overcompensating for uncertainty with forced friendliness. Maddie had had little chance to react to Vlad before, absorbed by the immediate need to care for her son, but now that she looked at him face to face she seemed to have a more normal reaction of distaste. Or perhaps, Vlad thought charitably, she was just astonished to see someone she'd once known so changed.
"It is him!" Jack spoke up before Vlad could answer. "I saw his human face, it looks just like him!" He paused, then admitted, "Well, not just like him, but..."
"I'd like to see it, too." Maddie was still hesitant.
"Fine." Vlad glanced down the hallway, but there were no obvious places to rest. He decided, since he wouldn't need to hold it for long, to try leaning against the wall for support before forcing the change. It was a mistake. The black circles had barely passed over his body before the unexpected agony of trying to stand made his vision go blank. His human body could no longer support itself for any length of time, and the exhaustion he'd been able to ignore in the ghost form washed over him. Once he'd collapsed to the ground, his ruined leg muscles still burning from the strain, the ghost form reasserted itself and the pain faded to a background awareness, almost as if it was a problem for someone else entirely.
Jack and Maddie hadn't reacted quickly enough to catch him, but both were crouched next to him now, Maddie's face concerned and Jack's face nearly panicked. Blinking away the memory of pain, faintly dazed, Vlad pushed himself back up to a seated position.
"It really is you, isn't it?" Maddie didn't seem to know how to process that, her expression lost. "Vlad, you're..."
"You're gonna be okay," Jack said firmly. "We just gotta help your human body get better, right?"
A drastic over-simplification, and Vlad wasn't entirely sure that was even possible at this point. Instead of answering Jack, he stood up, and was vaguely annoyed that Jack put a hand on his arm as if to help him. "This body is fine."
Maddie was still staring at him, and Vlad expected a question like her daughter's, asking what had happened to them, but instead she said, "I don't see how a human can be a ghost at the same time."
"Neither did our captors." He glanced back toward Daniel's bedroom door, wondering when the boy would wake up.
"I didn't want to push Danny to explain things immediately. He seems to think the people who took you prisoner are going to come looking for you." Maddie seemed to have regained her balance, only slightly ill at ease looking at him. "Do you think so, too? What should we be preparing for? Do you know who was holding you?"
"There were several of them. They seemed to be well-organized. I believe their focus was only studying ghosts." He hadn't had any non-ghost 'roommates,' at least, until Daniel showed up. Vlad thought about what to add. "They wore white clothes. And some of them carried odd weapons, designed to hurt ghosts."
"As long as you guys stay in here, we can keep 'em out," Jack put in. It was a reckless promise, Vlad thought, but recklessness seemed to be a habit of Jack's.
"Maybe..." Maddie seemed less sure, her expression more calculating than Jack's. Vlad had expected the conversation to continue in that line, but instead she went on to ask, "Why were you sleeping in Danny's bedroom last night?"
At least she sounded more mystified than upset. He realized belatedly that Daniel's parents might be offended that their son chose what was, to them, practically a stranger over their own company. It made perfect sense to him. Daniel didn't have to worry about explaining what had happened to Vlad, or to worry about Vlad being able to understand. Maddie was obviously trying to be patient and not push Daniel faster than he was able to handle, but the need to explain was still there even unstated.
"To be sure he was safe." It came down to that, anyway.
"Have you thought about where you want to go from here?"
He took a moment to even make sense of the question. She simply didn't know better, assumed he was waiting to return to normal life. Perhaps after his human body recovered, if it could.
"No." Curiosity rose despite himself. If they did know him... "Do I have a family?"
They both seemed surprised by the question. Jack answered carefully, "Well, there was your dad, but that was back in college. We haven't really seen him since, uh, the funeral."
Jack had mentioned his supposed death before. If not literally true, it might as well have been. "How was my funeral?"
"Nice! Real nice." Jack seemed to be trying to reassure him. "Lots of flowers. Your dad talked some. There wasn't a body, though. They told us..."
"That you were cremated." Maddie wasn't quite so enthusiastic. "So your illness wouldn't spread. They wouldn't let us come visit you while you were in the hospital, either."
He remembered illness vaguely. A result of the accident? But Daniel had never mentioned being sick.
"Well, we can look up your dad, and see if he's still around." Jack frowned. "You still don't remember us, right?"
That was not entirely true. He had regained some details without context. An accident involving Jack. Maddie's red hair and purple eyes. In the absence of more concrete memories, he held onto those small details almost obsessively, turning them over again and again in his mind. They were the only fragments of himself that remained from before his imprisonment. "I don't remember much."
Maddie's expression was still tense. "We were all friends in college. Jack told you about that, right?"
"Yes. I don't remember it." Jack had tried to tell him a number of things, most of them either incomprehensible or best forgotten. It was less upsetting when Maddie tried to jog his memory. Maybe it would be easier to try to reclaim more of his past with her help. He wasn't sure it would be a good idea to try. As they both began to tell him things about the past, he listened patiently while not listening, wondering if either of them would notice. They didn't seem to.