Yay, we're on chapter nine! This story is the longest I've ever written =D Thanks all for sticking with me! From here on, the story could be triggering, to warn you. As we go along and things are introduced, I'll put specifics in my note. Just a reminder because many of you didn't have the author's note: this takes place in 2005. Also: I have a Tumblr for this story. The link to my personal one is on my profile, but I have one just for this story, so I don't spam my followers with it. The one for this story is intothedarkfanfiction then the usual dot tumblr dot com. I post extras and news on there. Feel free to come talk to me!

Also, [desperate for a beta]no longer applicable! I'm not confident in characterization .


"So, what's up?"

Danny glanced over at Richard, the other boy staring off at the Tower. "What?"

"You seem…" Richard shrugged. "Angry."

His face twisting into a wry smile, Danny moved one of his legs so it rested under the other. "You could say that. My, uh, my best friend's birthday is today and—" he shrugged himself —"I'm just pissed off I can't see her."

Richard nodded. "Parents won't let you?"

Danny shook his head. "I'd still see her, even if they didn't want me to. I just moved and she's halfway across the country."

"Maybe you could visit her soon?" Richard suggested after a moment.

Danny looked up at an airplane high ahead, leaving a white trail as it coursed through the sky. "I wish—" he stopped, focusing on the plane. He hadn't even thought of flying over, he could do that! He pulled the leg still dangling onto solid ground and got to his feet. "Actually, I have to go. See you."

Without waiting for a reply, he jogged down the hill, heading towards home. He could check in with Mom, then tell her he was going to do his homework and go straight to bed. He could climb out the window and walk for a bit until he got to a place where he could transform without worrying about being too close to where he and Mom lived or security cameras. He might still be seen flying away, but no one would connect yet another super-powered teenager with Danny Fenton. He'd be on his way to surprise Sam and hang out with her and Tucker, then head back home to get some sleep and head to school. Slowing slightly, he frowned. How long would it take to get there? Probably not too long, flying, but he should still check. It had taken him and Mom three days to get here, but he could go faster in the air and didn't need to worry about following roads or traffic. He'd check the distance when he looked up landmarks he could follow there.

Mom was sitting at the table, facing away from the door when Danny got home. He'd hesitated before going in and made sure to make a lot of noise coming in. Outside the door it had sounded like she was crying. She was setting her hands from her face when he turned around from closing the door. "Hey, Mom."

She turned to face him. "Hey, honey. How was your walk?" Her voice had the nasally edge Danny knew she got whenever she'd been crying.

Shrugging, Danny replied, "Fine. I'm gonna do some homework and then go to bed. I'm kinda tired."

Mom frowned. "I thought you were going to call Sam?"

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I'm gonna call her on my cell phone."

Sighing, Mom shook her head. "Sorry, sweetie, but you'll need to call her on the landline. You don't have your phone until Friday, remember?. You can take the phone into your room, just make sure to bring it back out when you're done."

The teen's shoulders slumped. "Okay." Well, he could always bring it back out in the morning and pretend he forgot she wanted it out there. He grabbed it off the counter as he walked past. "I'm going to my room."

"Alright, sweetie." Mom turned back to whatever she had in front of her on the table.

Danny flicked on his computer as soon as he closed the door. It slowly started up and began to connect to the internet. Danny looked to where he knew the kitchen was. It didn't sound like Mom had started crying again. That was good. He never knew what mood she'd be in anymore. When she was sad, he wasn't ever sure what to do either. He knew from experience that she didn't like him to see her upset and him there wouldn't do anything to help. She might leave for her room or she might get more upset looking at him. He wasn't ashamed of looking like Dad, but in times like that he wished he was like Jazz and looked like Mom.

The internet finally connected and a browser window opened. It was slower than it had been back at his house in Amity, but still faster than if he had a dial-up connection. He grimaced at the unappealing thought. Pulling up a search window, he searched for the distance between Amity Park and Jump City. It couldn't be too far. He could fly over a hundred miles an hour. It'd probably only take an hour, maybe an hour and a half — or not. He sat back in his chair. It was about two thousand miles to Amity Park. Even if he could fly twice as fast as he did, it'd take about ten hours to get there. That was definitely too long to be there and back by the start of school and before Mom would notice.

Sighing in defeat, he picked up the phone and dialed. Guess he'd just have to call her.

"Hello?"

"Sam?"

"Danny!" He could hear Tucker's voice on the other end: 'It's Danny? Let me see the phone!' "What, no! It's my birthday!" Sam called, her breath coming faster like she was moving quickly. "Stop it!" There was a thump, then nothing on Sam's end.

Danny pulled the phone away from his ear to make sure the call wasn't disconnected. It hadn't been. He put the phone back. "Hello?"

There was silence for another few seconds, before there was a staticky shifting noise and Sam's voice came back through. "Danny?"

"Is Tucker still alive?" Danny couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. It had been a long time since he had actually talked to them. He usually IM-ed them because they'd reached his text limit at the beginning of the month.

"Mostly. He tried to take the phone, if you couldn't tell."

Though he knew she couldn't see him, he nodded. "I guessed. Happy birthday!"

"Thanks." Her smile came through in her voice. "I wish you were here."

"Me too." He sighed. "I was going to fly, but it's too far."

Sam laughed. "You thought about flying? I appreciate it, but I don't want you killing yourself to say happy birthday."

"I didn't know how far it was!" Danny defended himself.

"Obviously," came the snorted reply. "So, how's being back at school?"

"Fine." He didn't want to talk about Jump right now. "How was your day?"

Sam snorted. "My parents decided they wanted to take me out to this really fancy place for dinner. It was awful. I managed to avoid wearing what they wanted though." Danny laughed and they continued to talk, Tucker quickly joining in.

It was really awesome to be talking with them. It was almost like he was there. Almost. Finally, Sam had to go because her parents were insisting she go to bed and Tucker leave. He reluctantly hung up the phone, the numbers 02:18:03 flashing on screen under CALL ENDED. He set the phone on the desk.

It was only seven and he did have a lot of homework, but he actually was really tired. He stifled a yawn, glancing towards the window. He wanted to climb out on the fire escape, but his throat was still irritated from walking home in the smog. It had rained a little over the weekend, so the smog had cleared some, but it was still more than he was used to. Sighing, he turned to his homework instead. His English assignment was on top and, while he didn't want to do it, he'd rather do it than do math. It was really weird, actually, to have time to do his homework. Other than running into Youngblood a few weeks ago – he winced at the memory – he hadn't seen any ghosts since before Dad died. He thought Vlad had something to do with it. He'd never expected to see that nice side of the man. A lot of things had happened he'd never expected.

Shoving the thoughts away, he focused on the assignment. They were studying 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', but she'd assigned more stuff about how to understand what Shakespeare was saying. Apparently, people weren't doing too good on the comprehension and reading quizzes. Danny didn't really care about Shakespeare or what he was trying to say, but if he actually did all his homework this year, he could get good grades. There was a chance he might actually get into NASA if he got his grades and GPA up. The first section was something they'd already gone over in class from Midsummer's, with the king and his fiancée, so that was easy.

Unfortunately, on the next one they were back to Hamlet. Weren't there plays other than Midsummer's, Hamlet, Macbeth, and Twelfth Night? Those were all they ever read parts from. Sighing, Danny started on the Hamlet passage. 'G: 'I am thy father's spirit—'' Danny swallowed, then forced himself to continue reading about how Hamlet's da— the ghost was doomed to haunt until his mistakes were made up for and how he had something to tell Hamlet. Swallowing hard again and clenching his fists to distract from his churning stomach, he concentrated on the rest of the passage. 'G: 'Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.' H: 'Murder?' G: 'Murder most foul, as in the best—'' Danny swept the paper from the table. He'd rather work on math than... than that. It hadn't bothered him or anything. He didn't feel sick. It was just boring. That was all. Quickly, he opened up his math book. Maybe Algebra 2 could distract him. Not that he needed distracting from anything.

After a few minutes of blankly staring at his book, he slammed it shut and logged onto his computer. He wasn't sure if Val, Sam, or Tuck were on, because of the time zone difference, but he hoped they were. His computer booted up, but no one was active. Sighing, he flipped it off again. As the screen went blank he glanced at the clock again. It wasn't even eight, but he couldn't think of anything to do other than homework (which he couldn't concentrate on) or going to bed. He couldn't sleep now, though. It was too early. He opened his math book again and rested his chin on his hand, staring blankly at the numbers on the page as they swam around. Yawning again, he rested his head on the page. He hated math and he wasn't any good at it. It shouldn't be required. He knew he would need to know some pretty high math to be an astronaut, but for now he'd pretend he wouldn't use it again and didn't need it. The teen shoved back his chair as he stood and flopped on the covers of his bed, staring up at the ceiling. He meant to think, but his eyes kept closing. Maybe he would go out on the fire escape. In a minute.

The bells struck one as Danny stood on the cliff, eyes searching the unseen horizon, both hoping and dreading. The wind brought salt spray up to dampen his face, the air twisting the noise of the ocean waves into what almost sounded like words. He shuddered at the sound of them. 'Foul and unnatural; foul, strange, and unnatural' Turning, he took a few paces away from the edge. Maybe he should go back.

Involuntarily, Danny brought his arms up, hands wrapping around biceps, and shivered, a thin mist coming from between his lips. Danny struggled for less than a moment whether to run or stay. Slowly, he turned around, his eyes instantly falling upon the figure he looked for. The orange jumpsuit was more vivid than it had ever been in life and the skin was green, though not the vivid green of most ghost flesh, a hand holding tightly onto an ecto-gun. Danny's eyes met the blue ones of his phantasmal father. His mouth fell open staring at the man. Sure, he had half-wondered if his father had become a ghost, but had dismissed it pretty quickly after weeks had gone by and he hadn't seen or heard anything.

"Dad?" Another time, maybe, Danny would have been embarrassed by the eagerness in his tone, but now he was just happy to see Dad again. Dad opened his mouth as if to speak, but no sound came out. Danny swallowed hard. "Dad, what is it?"

Dad closed his mouth and lifted the hand that didn't hold the ecto-gun, gesturing Danny forward. At the beckoning, Danny took a step. Before he could get any closer, though, he felt hands close around his arms, holding him back. He looked to see Valerie on one side of him and Tucker on the other. Frowning, he pulled unsuccessfully at his arms. "Guys, let go."

"No way," Valerie replied.

"Not a good idea, man." Tucker seconded.

Danny turned to look back at Dad, but Sam stood in front of him, nearly blocking his view.

"Danny, you can't go with him."

"Why not?" He nearly yelled. Why did all his friends want to keep him from seeing Dad again?

"You don't know where he'd take you! Following after him will send you over the edge, Danny!"

He shook his head. "No, it won't!"

He surged forward, ignoring the twin protests of 'Danny!' from either side of him, and darted around Sam. He saw her reach for him, but she missed. He raced towards his father, only to see him fade as the first ray of sunlight cut over the horizon, piercing the ghost. Danny couldn't stop, and he hurtled over the cliff. He fell quickly. It was too fast to transform. He took a breath before he hit the water, plunging into the icy ocean. He didn't stop, just kept going farther into the pitch black until he didn't know which way was up or how to get out. The waves spun him around and he desperately clawed at the water, frantically trying to find the surface. He didn't know how much longer he could keep his breath. The current slammed him into rocks he couldn't see in the aphotic abyss. He gasped involuntarily. Most of his breath was knocked from his lungs. Slamming his lips together, he held onto what air he had left, lungs beginning to burn. He grabbed blindly at the rocks, finding they mounded together. Danny frenziedly pulled himself along the slope, hopefully in the right direction. The water battered him, trying to rip him from where he held on. His whole chest ached at the effort of holding the little that was left of his oxygen. Head spinning, Danny knew that he didn't have much time left. He reached upwards once more. His hand broke the surface and grabbed onto damp, gritty rock.

The teen's eyes flew open and he gasped before sitting straight up. He automatically slammed the alarm, silencing it, then sat hunched over his knees and breathing hard for a moment. He usually didn't have disturbing dreams, but that one… He could vividly remember being slammed against rocks and thrown around in the water. Closing his eyes, he tipped his head back to face the ceiling. That had really bothered him. He took another steadying breath, the air not helping him to shake the heaviness that had settled in his chest. Danny finally got off the bed, accepting that he wouldn't be able to get rid of the darkness that weighed him down. All he could do now was get changed and ready for school. He cast a hopeless glance at his unfinished homework before he swept it into his backpack. Maybe he'd get a bit more done in homeroom.

That reminded him, today he would see Ryan for the first time since he left the table at lunch on Monday. He hoped Ryan wouldn't turn into Dash. Danny didn't know if he'd be able to take that here. With how angry he felt sometimes, he'd fight back instead of quietly taking it. He could seriously hurt Ryan if he wasn't careful. Fighting wasn't an option.

Mom was rinsing off a plate when he walked into the kitchen. She smiled at him. "Good morning, sweetie. We're running a bit late, so I'll take you. I made you some toast to eat on the way." Setting the plate in the dishwasher, she picked up the keys.

Danny snatched the toast as he passed the counter, following her out the door. The trip down the block to the garage was quick and they were soon in the car, Danny finishing the last bits of his toast.

Mom didn't say anything until they'd pulled out and were on the road. "Remember, you aren't going over to Vlad's today. You're meeting with the counselor right after school."

Great. Danny didn't reply, slumping in his seat and staring out the window. He still didn't want to see a counselor, especially not today when he felt so down.

"Honey, promise me you'll go." Mom's voice wasn't commanding like he'd expect it to be. She sounded really concerned.

Sighing, Danny nodded. "I'll go."

The rest of the drive was silent. Mom only spoke again to wish him a good day at school and to tell him she'd pick him up at three-fifteen. Danny took a steadying breath as he looked at the front doors. He still felt sick. Ryan was probably going to give him a hard time and he wasn't looking forward to that, not today. If he didn't hurry up, Tyrann would lock him out.

Danny barely made it into the classroom in time. Tyrann glared at the teen as the man passed to close and lock the door. Hesitantly, Danny took his seat, not looking at Ryan.

"Danny." Automatically, he looked over at Ryan at the sound of his name. The other boy was leaning towards Danny into the aisle.

"Yeah?" Danny kept his voice quiet, to match Ryan's hushed tone. Tyrann was shuffling through manuals at the front.

"Sorry you had to move." Danny's eyebrows raised. "I was pretty messed up Monday. I shouldn't have come."

Danny nodded slightly. "Yeah, it's… it's fine." Ryan grinned, then moved to sit properly as Tyrann turned around and began lecturing. Danny tuned the man out. He hadn't expected Ryan to react that way at all. He'd figured the other teen would be pissed that Danny walked away and he'd be a jerk. Jump City Central had never seemed so different from Casper High than right then. If only Dash could see him now. He smiled slightly, then pulled out his math book. He should at least try to get a little done.

The last bell rang and Danny slowly finished putting his papers in his backpack as the classroom emptied out.

"Danny?"

He looked up to see his English teacher standing at the front of the now-empty room, looking at him. Danny quickly swung his backpack onto his shoulders and stood up.

"Danny, can I talk to you?"

"Sorry." He brushed past her. "I have an appointment." He slipped out the door before she could say anything else and headed towards the hallway where the main office and other offices were. She probably was going to ask him about his assignment that was still sitting on the floor of his bedroom, unfinished. He didn't feel like talking about it.

As he reached the hallway he'd been aiming for, he slowed considerably. He didn't feel better than when he'd woken up. He really didn't want to meet with some shrink that would overanalyze everything he said and want to 'talk about his feelings' and tell him everything she thought was wrong with him. Turning the corner, the teen caught sight of a woman in a vibrant red suit with bright red hair standing by an open door. She looked up and their eyes met.

"Daniel Fenton?" She sounded friendly.

Sighing mentally, Danny nodded and stopped a bit in front of her. "Yeah."

Smiling at him, she introduced herself, "I'm Penelope Spectre. Is it alright if I shake your hand?"

Danny blinked. What? Weird. "…Yeah, sure." He extended his hand and she shook it.

"It's wonderful to meet you. Would you like to come in?" She took a step back, gesturing at the open door.

Shrugging, Danny replied, "Sure." It was freezing in the room. The counselor closed the door behind him and told him to take a seat. Danny shivered as he did so. It was so cold in here, he could see his breath.

The woman sat in her chair on the other side of the desk. "Like I said earlier, I'm Dr. Spectre. What do you want me to call you?"

"Danny's fine."

"Okay, Danny." She smiled again. "We can talk about whatever you want to talk about. I'm here to help."

Sure. All the counselors he'd ever seen on TV were annoying and nosy. "Okay."

Dr. Spectre leaned forward in her chair. "How're you, Danny?"

"I'm fine," he replied shortly, crossing his arms.

"Okay." She nodded. "How do you like JCC?"

Danny looked around the room. There weren't very many decorations, just some certificates. "It's fine."

"Have you made any friends?"

"Yeah." Danny shrugged again.

"Why don't you tell me about them?" Dr. Spectre prompted.

Danny shrugged a third time. He didn't want to be here.

The counselor nodded. "Okay. What do you like to do for fun?"

"Can I go?" He asked instead.

She sat back. "Okay, we don't have to talk about anything." Smiling, she continued, "We can just sit here, if you want. I just want you to know I'm here for you when you want to talk. If there's anything you want to talk about, let me know."

Danny looked away again, silent. The next twenty minutes were the most boring of his life, and that was saying something. Finally, the clock got to three-ten and he stood up. Dr. Spectre stood up opposite him.

"It was nice to meet you, Danny. I'll see you next week."

"Bye." Danny shut the door behind him and headed briskly down the hall. That hadn't been as bad as he'd been expecting, but it had still sucked. At least she didn't spout off psychobabble like Jazz always did.

Mom was waiting outside in the parking lot when he walked out the front door. Mom watched him flop onto the passenger seat. "How did it go, sweetie?"

Shrugging, Danny looked ahead at the road. "Fine."

He saw Mom glance over at him from the corner of her eye. "Alright. We're going out for dinner tonight."

"Oh." The teen looked over at her. "Okay."

She nodded. "Vlad's taking us."

Internally, Danny winced. He hadn't been too civil the last time he'd seen Vlad. They hadn't gotten any training done because Danny had been arguing with the man the whole time about if Danny was ready to move on from ectoblasts. Out loud, he replied with a neutral repeat, "Okay."

Vlad was already sitting at a table near the entrance when they walked into the Applebees at five. The man set down his wine glass and smiled as the Fentons took their seats. Danny didn't quite meet the older halfa's eyes, instead picking up a menu to glance over.

"Hello, Daniel. Maddie, as ravishing as ever."

Danny lowered the menu in surprise, gawking at Vlad. The flirting was new. Well, not new, but, as far as Danny knew, Vlad hadn't flirted with Mom since Dad died. Glancing over at Mom, Danny figured she was just as surprised. Her eyebrows were high. Danny turned back to Vlad, who was looking straight at Mom.

"I apologize, Maddie. All I meant by it is that you look beautiful."

Mom nodded, a slight smile appearing on her face. "Thank you, Vlad."

The server took their drink orders and then food orders. Danny looked through the dessert menu while Vlad and Mom talked about her work. Mom was telling Vlad about how they had gotten stuck soon after they started. They were working around it as much as they could, but it was mostly stalled until they could get past something or other.

"Danny?" He looked up at his Mom's voice and moved the dessert menu so the server could put his plate down in front of him.

"Thanks," he said, as he picked up a fry.

"So, Daniel, how's school?"

Danny looked up to meet Vlad's gaze and shrugged. "Fine." He wasn't in the mood to talk today. Of course, that meant everyone wanted to talk to him.

Vlad nodded. "Have you made any friends?"

"A few." He bit into his burger so he wouldn't have to continue.

Continuing as he skillfully cut into his steak, Vlad asked, "What about sports or clubs? If you need me to, we can modify your work schedule to fit any activities in."

Blinking, the teen looked up at Vlad. "Thanks. I'm good, though."

"Clubs can look good on college applications." Vlad took another sip of wine, emptying the glass. "Do you know what you want to do when you finish high school?"

To avoid replying, Danny chewed his burger slower. When nothing else had been said by the time he swallowed, he sighed and glanced at Mom. "I want to be an astronaut," he replied quietly. He braced himself for Vlad to mock him.

"An astronaut?" Vlad's tone was thoughtful. "You'd do well."

Danny's head whipped around to look at Vlad. "What?"

"You have leadership skills and persistence." The man flagged down another server to get a refill. "You would do well. In fact, I have a… contact in NASA. I could talk to him about getting you an internship once you graduate, if you're still interested."

Unable to breathe, Danny stared at Vlad, mouth agape. "Really?" he managed.

"For the son of my good friends?" Vlad's eyes darted to a smiling Maddie. "Of course." He looked back at Danny. "Not to mention all the help you've given me. At the rate you're going, you'll be half done by the time the Axion Labs building here is finished."

"You're building a lab here?" Mom's eyebrows were raised again.

Tuning them out, Danny munched on another fry. He shouldn't be surprised by Vlad's change of character by now, but he still was. It went against everything he expected.

Thursday's classes were normal. Jace made sure he'd be coming to the party on Friday and that he'd be at Greenwood at ten. Amina avoided him. He wasn't sure why. Maybe it had something to do with Danny's friendship with Ryan? Danny didn't know. He was still thinking about it when he climbed into Vlad's car after school. Vlad had been picking him up for work after school all week.

"Daniel?"

Torn away from his thoughts, Danny turned to Vlad. "Yeah?"

"I have a meeting with the architect and construction workers for my new lab this afternoon, so we will commence with your training right away."

He nodded. "Okay." He wanted to ask if they were finally moving away from ectoblasts today, but he'd bugged Vlad about it Tuesday. He didn't want to put the man in a bad mood before they'd even started.

It turned out they were still doing ectoblasts, though differently today.

"You haven't scanned any papers today and I don't have enough for you to practice with." Vlad pushed a button on a remote Danny hadn't even noticed the man had and six actual targets rose out of the floor. "I'll put my coat, vest, and tie in my study and you can begin when I return." The door closed behind the older halfa and the teen strode over to the targets.

They looked like what he'd expect to see in a shooting range. They were in the silhouetted shape of a man with a red area in the chest and head. A solid white circle with black lined circles sat in the middle of each red circle. They were taller than Danny.

"Those are just the stationary targets." The teen started in surprise, turning to face Vlad. The man walked so lightly, Danny could never hear him coming. "Come over here. I want you to work on power today."

"Why are they shaped like that?" Danny transformed as he walked across the room. "I'm not going to be shooting people."

"Yes, yes." Vlad waved off his concerns. "It's just for aiming purposes."

Raising his hand, Danny glanced at Vlad out of the corner of his eye. He fired, focusing back on the targets.

"Again."

He repeated the motion compliantly on the next target.

"Again."

Next target.

"Again. Put more power into it. You aren't concentrating hard enough."

Danny sighed in aggravation but fired again, the icy heat collecting around his palm.

"Focus, Daniel."

"I am focusing," The teen muttered.

"Not enough," Vlad returned. Danny forgot the man also had above-human hearing. He sighed and fired again, watching Vlad on the edge of his vision. The man seemed to be studying Danny's ectoblast, not where it hit.

"What are you looking at?" Was there something wrong with his ectoblasts? Danny glanced down at his gloved hands.

"I'm watching the colour of your ectoblasts," The older halfa replied absently.

Taking a step back, Danny's forehead furrowed. "Why? Is everything okay?"

Vlad's eyes focused on Danny. "Yes, it's fine. Don't look so concerned. As you gain in strength, your ectoblasts should begin to change colour to reflect that."

"Oh." Danny watched his ectoblasts as he continued to fire under Vlad's instructions. They didn't seem any different to him.

It was only about fifteen minutes from when they'd started that Vlad stopped the session. The targets dropped back into the floor and Danny scowled. He probably could have made some progress if they'd gone for a bit longer.

"I'll set you up before I head out. I'm not sure how long I'll be. If Maddie comes before I'm back, then I'll just pick you up tomorrow as usual."

Danny transformed and followed Vlad out into the hall, then the study. "Yeah, okay. I know what to do."

After tying his tie, Vlad pulled one arm through his vest over his white shirt, then the other arm. He buttoned it up, then reached over to key in the code to the scanner. Danny just thought Vlad was paranoid. Who else would be using the man's scanner in his house? "Are you confident you—"

"I know what to do," Danny repeated, cutting Vlad off.

Vlad's eyes narrowed, then his expression cleared. "See that you do an adequate job." Without another word Vlad left the room.

Danny picked up a box of files and set it next to the empty desk. He glanced over at the desk top, then looked a second time. Vlad was gone for a while. Danny would be all alone. It was a bad idea, he knew it was a bad idea, but… he wanted to know what had gotten Vlad so… angry? Worried? Whatever it was specifically, Vlad had been upset and he'd hid whatever it was. It was important. Besides, Danny rationalized, maybe it was about that business deal that had gone wrong, the one that had put Danny in danger. Danny had a right to know about it if it had to do with him.

Danny stepped behind the empty desk, next to the chair, and listened for the front door. Vlad did everything quietly, including close doors, so he had to be silent to be able to hear it. He didn't want Vlad catching him.

Finally, he heard it close. He turned his arm intangible and reached into the desk, feeling his arm go through the dense material and find something else. He couldn't quite tell because his nerves were majorly dulled when he was intangible, but it felt like a stack of papers. He found the top few and pulled them into his intangibility. He carefully lifted everything free of the desk and his arm and the papers solidified. On top rested the unmarked envelope Vlad had received in his mailbox last week. Danny shook the contents out onto the stack of papers he held. He paled as he caught sight of what they were and who was in them. Every single thing that had been in the envelope was a photograph of Plasmius.

Danny swallowed hard. Whoever had given Vlad the envelope knew. Did they know about Danny, too? Why hadn't Vlad told him? This was important! It made sense why the man had been so panicked. He shuffled through them with the hand holding the envelope. He didn't recognize any of the backgrounds. White tile could be anywhere. Mainly darkness with screens lighting Plasmius' face didn't show any details. The… the alley. He knew that alley, that was where he'd run into that girl! Who were these people?

Pushing away the thought, he gathered up the pictures in the hand holding the envelope and scanned the first paper underneath. It looked like information. He paused as a word caught his view. Ryder. Was that who knew? He moved to read the paper fully, but froze as a hand grasped his wrist.

His head snapped up and he met Vlad's glowing red eyes.

A cold chill ran down his spine. Time seemed to stop for a moment, then his eyes flicked down to watch Vlad's free hand reach over the man's arm to take the envelope and pictures. The older halfa's hand flared up and the pictures caught flame, edges curling before they disintegrated into ash, falling lightly to the floor. Once they had all been burned completely, Vlad took that small stack of papers Danny held in the hand still caught in Vlad's hold and slammed them down on the desk.

Danny flinched at the bang and Vlad turned to look straight at Danny, grip tightening. "What," he asked softly, a deadly edge to his voice, "do you think you're doing?"

The teen went to take a step back, but he bumped into the desk chair directly behind him. Vlad's other hand darted out and grabbed Danny's shoulder, holding the boy firmly in place.

"I asked you a question." His still glowing eyes flared.

Danny tried to pull away again. "Vlad—" he cut himself off with a hiss of pain as Vlad's hands tightened their grasp.

The man's eyes widened and dimmed and he immediately released Danny, taking a step back. He rubbed the palm of the hand that had held Danny's wrist with his other thumb for half a second. Turning his back to the teen, Vlad strode forward to pick up the suit coat that was still sitting on the chair from before they'd begun training. Danny watched the man warily, rubbing his wrist. That had hurt. To be honest, it had been terrifying. He'd never seen Vlad like that. He wanted to say something, some remark to show he hadn't been intimidated, but he was too worried about Vlad's reaction to bring the man's attention back to himself. He watched Vlad adjust the suit coat over his vest, button the coat, then adjust it again. Finally the man turned around, face blank.

"I'll take you home. You aren't needed for tomorrow." Vlad took out the car keys from the coat pocket. "Come on."

Silently, still unsure of what to say, Danny followed the older halfa downstairs and outside. He climbed into the passenger side door and pulled his seatbelt on with his left hand, leaving his right in his lap. He kept his eyes on his wrist as they backed out of the driveway. His pale wrist had small red lines in the outline of fingers. As he watched, they faded and disappeared, though his wrist still ached.

"Daniel."

He cautiously looked over at Vlad. The man hadn't sounded angry, but that could be wrong.

"I… I apologize." Vlad glanced over at Danny. "You angered me by going through my personal things when I'd told you specifically not to. Do you understand?"

No. "Yeah." Danny hunched slightly in the seat. "Sorry."

"Just don't do it again." Vlad's tone was back to his normal calm.

Danny swallowed and looked out the window. That had been stupid of him, really stupid. He was probably lucky Vlad hadn't been angrier. That had just been so stupid. He felt sick.


I was so excited to write that bit with Vlad. I had it outlined in my notebook and everything. And there's professional Spectra (I consulted my psychologist friend on proper psychiatrist/counselor behavior. She can't be too over the top - she just got here and I have more than thirty minutes to have her here ^^ ) Again, I'm desperate for a beta. Places I've looked don't have DP or TT betas or have only DP or only TT betas and I'm just not having an easy time of it. Any volunteers?

Shoutout to my reviewers: You guys are the best. Reviews really make my day. When I'm feeling down and discouraged, I come back to the review page and, nine times out of ten, it gets me back my motivation. I love everyone who reads this story and those who alert and favourite it, but I have to admit that reviewers are my favourite.

What do you think? Let me know!