If Danny could've frozen time right then and there, he would have. For the first time in what was probably a very long time, he felt good. Not just that, he felt safe. He hadn't really felt safe since day one, when he very first got his ghost powers and realised that it was his job to defend not only himself, but the entirety of Amity Park and occasionally the world. He lived his life feelings on edge, constantly alert, aware of any and all incoming threats 24/7. And now here he was shamelessly accepting a hug from someone who, until very recently, was considered as one of said threats. Hell, Danny didn't even know if Vlad still was a threat.
It was unwise to permit the belief that Vlad was doing this out of the goodness of his heart, and Danny knew it all too well. It was no secret that Vlad was a very manipulative person, meaning that this could all very easily be some kind of trick to gain Danny's trust. It wouldn't be the first time that he'd been fooled by the older half ghost's charm.
He couldn't handle that.
The thought scared him a little but it was absolutely, undoubtedly true. He felt like his soul had been hacked into messy, bloody little pieces and was just barely being held together by a fraying cotton thread that would soon snap, and then what would he do?
He'd fall apart, that's what. He'd hit rock bottom and there would be no one down here waiting for him, braced and ready to break his fall and bounce him right back up again. He'd be on his own in the dark with nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Well, there would be one person to turn to, or rather turn into.
The thought wasn't appealing in the slightest.
On the other hand, Vlad could be perfectly genuine, and how awesome would that be? If he dropped his defences and just let this happen, let himself be patched up and sewn back together by Vlad. It didn't have to be a risk or a conscious decision; he could just go along with the ride, so to speak. See where he ended up. If the final destination just so happened to be a bad place, if Vlad did betray him, then so what? Seriously, so what? He didn't exactly have anything to lose, but perhaps he did have something to gain.
He breathed deeply, partially because he was practically hyperventilating, but mostly because whatever cologne Vlad was wearing was a damn good cologne.
Sam and Tucker wouldn't believe this. They'd drag him away from Vlad and smack him round the face, and then they would tell him to stop being such a naive idiot and to get a grip already. They would remind him that, duh, Vlad is the enemy? That being said, if Sam and Tucker were here, he wouldn't be in this dire situation in the first place. He'd be with them, getting best friend hugs and listening to their comforting words. He'd have someone there to not only tell him that it wasn't his fault, but to order him to believe it until he actually did.
He would miss them so much. He would miss Sam and her strong will and set in stone morals. He would miss Tucker and the way he was able to take any situation and make it humorous, the hours they spent on video games together. The way he wore that silly red beret religiously, the fact that the only thing Tucker loved more than his two best friends was his PDA. The way...
Shit.
What did he do with the PDA? He pushed away from Vlad suddenly, although part of him wished he hadn't. It felt cold without him.
"What's wrong?" Vlad asked. He thought Danny had responded quite well to the sudden proximity, better than he'd hoped in fact. He hadn't expected him to actually relax.
"I may have done something really, really stupid." He said blankly as he hurried over to the duffel bag, praying that he'd been absent minded and shoved the thing in there without thinking about what he was doing. No such luck. He raked his hands through his hair. "Tucker had a PDA with tons of ghost information on it. I mean, there is some real dangerous info on there that could cause a world of hurt. I can't believe how stupid I am. Why didn't I notice that it was gone?"
He walked towards the balcony, shifting into his ghost form somewhere along the way. This was bad, this was really bad.
"Wait, Daniel. What are you doing, where are you going? Daniel!" Danny ignored him, phasing through the glass of the balcony doors and taking off into the sky. Vlad sighed. Tonight was going to be a long night.