Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.
Note (10/2/2018): It's time guys, this is where we start to get to get into the really touchy-feely stuff, aka the meat of the story where I start letting Vlad and Danny bond more deeply then ever before, leading up the eventual Dan reveal where I tear your little hearts out! Muahahahahaha! Also, omg it's October already? Holy crap! Well, guess that means I'll have to start making more spooky art and such, might even try my hand at drawing the Fright Knight since he IS the Spirit of Halloween after all!
Chapter 50: Rectify
(Chapter inspired by This Is The Time by Superchick)
Vlad's POV
A part of me already understood the most likely reason why Daniel had suffered yet another nightmare, but the other part of me was absolutely livid by the fact that there was no way for me to know for sure if this was one of his normal nightmares or something induced on purpose by Dan! And with Daniel sobbing like this I wasn't going to get an answer anytime soon, so instead I focused on comforting him and rubbing small circles on his back to outwardly appear composed to conceal how furious I truly was. It's been so long since I lowered my guard like that and lost myself in such a simple and pointless activity, and Daniel proved to be quite the challenger which made my time bonding with him all the more enjoyable. More than that I felt...like a weight I did not know I was still carrying on my shoulders had been lifted simply by telling him the truth about just how alone I've felt since parting ways with his parents and losing my own.
Given everything he's been through lately I shouldn't be surprised this happened Daniel's first night here where he wasn't utterly exhausted from stabilizing his ghost core like he was the previous night. This, to me, was both a good and bad thing because it meant Daniel has finally recovered enough that he's self-generating ecto-energy again, which like mine worked symbiotically with his human side as a sort of adrenaline. However, it also meant that all of Daniel's senses were heightened again and as a result he was feeling restless. Therefore he needed to use that energy for something more than a few games that only required wrist movements and focus. I also gave him a lot more to think about concerning his parents and I on top of everything else, so this whole mess was partly my fault...
"I'm sorry..." Daniel sniffled, his voice weak from sobbing so hard.
"You have nothing to apologize for my boy. As long as you're not hurt I'm-" I began but Daniel cut me off by gripping fists full of his raven hair and shaking his head in denial.
"No, it's not ok! Why am I like this Vlad? I thought I was doing fine! I really thought we had a good time with you earlier despite acting like such a demanding brat before. And I finally got to learn something more about you as a person too. Heck, I felt a little better after you told me that you aren't going to keep me isolated from my friends forever. I shouldn't be like this, I shouldn't be such a screw up! I shouldn't let something like that shake me so easily...something like that..."
After looking away from me with those glossy eyes, as if ashamed of something, I quickly realized that Daniel's nightmare had something to do with me. I was touched by how ashamed he felt to admit that, by simply knowing Daniel didn't see me as someone worth hating anymore. It's possible his dream began normally then caught him off guard with something which could explain a lot. Or perhaps he was dreaming about that future self of mine that helped him but Dan-
"Daniel, look at me. This is very important," I began, my voice harsh and business-like and I didn't say anything more until Daniel turned to face me with an almost fearful look in his eyes as more tears spilled over his cheeks. "Did you see anything out of the ordinary, anything at all, or feel anything strange afterwards or during your nightmare? And if so, do you believe that Dan has attacked you mentally again or was it like all of your other nightmares up until now?"
Swallowing past the lump in his throat Daniel explained, "I'm-I'm not sure...but somehow I doubt it was another attack from Dan though, mental or otherwise since your alarms didn't go off. But I really don't know. For the last, what? Month? Something has ALWAYS happened to me as soon as I let my guard down. Nightmares, hallucinations, core problems, and behavior I can't explain, most of which you've already seen. I think after a while a part of me started to see all of it as normal. The constant tension in the air always keeping me on my toes, the fear, the ghost fighting, so I guess when I finally had a day that felt so...normal even for someone who isn't half-ghost I didn't know how to react to it. Who knows, maybe I made this drama in my head because of all the doom and gloom that seems to be a popular trend for me lately. I think I'm just feeling really restless now that I'm getting better, Vlad. I can't help it! So hey, you mentioned sparring before, right? I might feel up for that now. Clearly if I'm making my own excitement it might be a sign I need to find and do something with it in a more productive way, and not create the jump scare variety in my head like this. Can we go do that now? Please? I don't...I don't want to have another nightmare! I slept better back when I was still sick because I was too tired to dream right? Right?!"
I could hear the panicked desperation in his voice and it broke my heart, but training this late at night wasn't going to do Daniel any good. No, we had to think about this more carefully. And more importantly, this proved that Dan needed to be destroyed sooner rather then later or Daniel was never going to feel safe again, especially with me since I had something to do with his creation and disposing of most of my cloning research obviously wasn't going to be enough...
"As much as I admire your tenacity, it's late Daniel and you need to go back to sleep. And before you ask, no, I'm afraid sedating you is out of the question for the same reason as before. Relying on such things won't help you, and neither will trying to train your nightmares away, not like this," his shoulders fell in defeat but I grabbed them gently and told him, "So we'll do the next best thing. I'll stay with you until you fall asleep and tomorrow morning we'll...think of some way to deal with this. Alright?"
"I just...hate this..." Daniel murmured blinking more tears from his eyes. "I hate myself for a lot of things right now but, that's the whole problem, isn't it?"
"What is Daniel?" I asked quietly.
Taking a deep breath, Daniel looked at me helplessly and confessed, "I'm so used to hating your guts, to fighting ghosts, and without that I guess I started feeling like I don't know who I am anymore. I don't...even know who my parents are anymore! So, God, I dunno, maybe those things you said got to me after all and I didn't realize it. Just...forget about it Vlad, I'll-"
"-handle it yourself?" I finished with a knowing smile before letting go of his shoulders and standing up, hands resting behind my back. "I know you can. Normally, that is. This is different though. And yes, to be fair I think we're both used to handling these sorts of hardships on our own. But you no longer have to endure everything on your own and suffer in silence anymore Daniel! Don't you see that? I promise, things WILL get better. It will take time, so it's naive for either us to expect things to be perfect after only one good day. I'm doing everything I can, but I need your help my boy, which is something I never thought I'd say once let alone as many times as I have to you, of all people," turning around, I scanned the room for the nearest chair and promptly brought it over to his bedside and sat down again, took him by the shoulders again to ease him back into a laying position before pulling the comforter back over him and finishing with, "Now, try to get some sleep little badger."
"Sorry..." he muttered again, closing his eyes and exhaling a long shaky breath.
"Shh, sleep Daniel. We'll talk about it more in the morning," I replied in my most soothing tone and like when he was bedridden with fever, I began idly stroking his hair, ignoring his initial flinch at the contact. A shame Maddie was off wondering the castle getting used to things herself, I'm sure Daniel would have welcomed her company rather than mine.
Still, my eyes flashed red at the possibility of this being yet another mind game concocted by Dan. Well, two could play that game! Once I found that monster that was hurting my little badger like this I was going to tear him apart! My most immediate goal however was giving Daniel an outlet for more than just his ice powers. I still wasn't sure if he ready though...
Danny's POV
Vlad kept his word about staying with me until I fell asleep, in fact I'm surprised he didn't stay there all night when I opened my eyes and he was gone. I found a note on the dresser next to my bed though telling me that he went ahead and tidied up the room for me and was waiting for me in the dining room. Thankfully I knew where it was now since we ate in the dining room at least a few times but I wasn't looking forward to talking about last night. I felt so stupid and embarrassed, and it was even worse now since I wound up crying like that and Vlad had to stay with me like I was a little kid worrying about monsters under the bed. Well enough was enough! I was sick of being treated like a little kid so the one thing that could fix it was to start using my powers again.
I don't care if it's against actual ghosts, a training dummy, or a mock battle with Vlad I was just so angry at myself for losing it last night that I wanted to hit something really REALLY hard. After that I basically threw on the first outfit that caught my eye and chugged a glass of water before splashing the rest in my face to wake me up. Then I pretty much made my way there in an irritated daze before I blinked, slowed down and realized how bad it would look if I walked in there scowling. I didn't want Vlad to keep worrying about me like this. And most of all, I didn't want him asking too much about my nightmares because half the time I could hardly remember them anyway and when I did, I wish I couldn't.
Patting my cheeks a few times, I took a deep breath and wordlessly walked into the room and sat down in what's probably going to be my usual spot from now on. I glanced over at Vlad unsurely when he didn't look up or say anything when I know darn well he knew I was here. The guy was like a human radar when it came to me, and I'd like to learn how he suppresses his ghost signature like that at some point. That's part of the reason I forced myself to wake up this morning and climb out of that comfy bed. I couldn't let myself slip into a false sense of security, not again. Now that I was better I wanted...I wanted to get stronger so things like this couldn't get to me so easily. If Dan really was making me have these dreams then I needed to have a way to fight back in them and out of them for my sake and Vlad's. I couldn't let him get too close to the truth because I honestly don't know what it'll do to him...
When Vlad didn't so much as say good morning when he took the lid off his food tray and began eating while reading his newspaper so I started to get both really irritated and nervous all at the same time. Was he really not going to say anything? Did Vlad expect me to admit how badly I screwed up and how crappy I felt about letting that stupid nightmare about Dan get to me like that?
Clenching my fists under the table, I used the nervousness I was feeling to bring up what happened last night to just get it over with and glared at him as I blurted out, "Well, aren't you going to say anything?"
Vlad didn't answer right away but instead took a sip of coffee and set the newspaper down, finally looking at me as he responded casually, "If you are referring to what happened last night, I thought it best not to bring it up right away so you could gather your thoughts. I know you don't like it when I interrogate you too much either my boy. Of course I want to know what happened last night, but seeing as nothing else happened after the fact once you feel asleep, I returned to my chambers and double-checked my security readings to make sure it wasn't Dan manipulating you again. So unless you tell me otherwise, I have to assume it was a normal nightmare brought on by overwhelming you with all of that information regarding my past. I apologize for giving you so much more to reflect on when you already have other concerns though. As for the nightmares themselves, there's really very little I can do unless we-"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about this morning," I cut him off, trying to look absolutely serious when I met his guarded but curious gaze. "I know I was freaking out last night because of what I saw but, you DO realize I was serious about being ready to train now...right?"
Unable to mask his feelings anymore, Vlad stared at me in wide-eyed shock and asked, "Are you quite sure about this? You seemed pretty distraught after your nightmare. Is that a commitment you're really ready to make? I'll admit that you've recovered a lot more quickly then even I expected but we can't overdo it like we did when your core started acting up."
I nodded, "Yeah, I'm dead serious. If last night proved anything to me it's that I can't let my guard down yet. If this is really about more then me being just messed up in the head because of all the things I saw and what happened to me, I need to start training with my powers again to get stronger and get my confidence back. I can't keep running to you for help with everything. I was doing fine before all of this and once I'm doing things again I'll feel like I'm not just a waste of space even here with nothing to contribute. Isn't this what we both wanted from the start anyways? Especially you? I don't want you to go back on your promise and chicken out now just because I had a bad dream...I'm not planning to either. So yeah I want this. Don't make it weird..."
After that, I swear with how brightly Vlad was smiling now he could have been literally glowing and it would have looked dim in comparison. He wasted no time in standing up and casually walking up to me, his dark blue eyes sparkling with glee like that time I tricked him in the Rockies and called him my new dad. That's one of the only other times I've seen him THIS happy about something. And looking back on it now, even then, outside of his scheming, Vlad was genuinely happy when I said that and believed it was true which made me feel like kind of a jerk for using that sort of thing against him. To be fair though, Vlad DID try to kill me by shorting out my powers and sending his latest ghost-experiments chasing me through the woods. Then again, maybe Vlad figured I wasn't in too much danger since I was smarter then I looked plus my mom was there to protect me, guess he assumed she'd save me and come crawling back to him after realizing how dangerous those woods were even for her and...wow, Vlad really did have everything planned out fives steps ahead of everyone. God that's still creepy to think about.
Beaming with pride and excitement Vlad drew my attention back to him when he said, "Well Daniel, if that is your answer...then I eagerly accept your request to train! I'm happy to see my little badger regain some of his vigor I feared he lost to recent events, but here you are asking ME to train without any provocation on my end! I'm proud of you for taking charge of your fate again my boy! Trust me, you won't regret this decision! Soon you'll truly be a force to be reckoned to the point that you could easily defeat even the Ghost King under my guidance. We'll get started right away. So eat your breakfast and change into something more suitable and I'll show you to the training room."
