A/N:

Well, I'm back - yeah! Good news: I brought a new chapter at last.

Bad news: after this, I'll start working on my Invisobang one, so I have no idea when the next chapter will come out - hopefully not five months later...

Another thing: it turned out rather long - the longest one in the entire story - so please, take your time, do a break in mid-length (maybe two) or something. Otherwise have a good read. It was nice to come back for this work! :)


The pressure during each attempted-to-take-in breath was a constant company, getting heavier and heavier after every passing day, month, and year, never leaving for the slightest second. The lungs were burning unstoppably, and everything slowly failed him. But it was never as hard as the past days by the soul-breaking picture he had seen. Nightmares. He knew those were nothing but nightmares, but why now? Maybe those wanted to tell him something, something like… hope maybe. But in truth, it just reached the opposite, making everything worse.

Running trembling fingers through his hair, and taking a deep breath – despite the constant fireplace-like aching inside – he gave faith that the many times seen scene would slip out of his mind the more awake he got. But of course, that was nothing but a naïve hope. It was not as easy, never that easy. The picture got stuck in his subconscious on repeat until he couldn't figure out what it was or what it wanted from him. Haunting? Well, he thanked well, but that already had ruined him. Hardly there was anything more that could be wrecked by that memory…

Vlad gave himself a second, letting himself disappear into that 'dream' again, and after that banishing it in the back of his mind during the day, and only allowing it to consume him during the nights as he was doing so when anything from the past came back for the sake of a nice nostalgia. Nights were after all the time when he let anything about the past eat him – knowing well the self-torment the less broke his great schedule in his usual already poor amount of sleep.

In the past days though, it felt different. Like a sixth sense, somehow it felt altered, even if everything was the same, the same moment from ten years back, to that unthinkable second, it felt different, not known in a way. It was giving him a bad shiver that something was strange now about that memory, something never-seen. It chased him, in the past days, to the edge of madness, unavoidably, close to slipping, not leaving him any peace to escape from it until he could understand it. He would trip, he knew that, whether it was by letting it consume him entirely, losing his sanity over it or somehow gathering the strength to step over it, he couldn't tell. And either he could grasp from where it came from, especially now, out of blue, and this strongly. Surely, he was thinking about it, pondering on the what-ifs, several times already, but… there was just nothing else if he closed his eyes now.

It only started a few days ago, but those few days equalled with a whole eternity, seeing Daniel again, and… that event too… Being late, witnessing something he – even after years – couldn't put into words, because he had no words to express it. In fact, he still didn't know what had happened, the whole had been just too quick, like a flash, and… The worst had turned out in a blink of an eye – with a blink of his eyes without any chance to do anything

"Daniel…" Vlad gasped, rushing to the spot he had just seen the boy, a blink ago. But now there had been no sign of the teen, only a ball of a shivering black and white figure. It took a moment for him to recognise the outline, his mind struggling to overlook the strange mismatching parts that didn't remind him of Phantom.

Once he reached the odd spectre, repressing the odd, out-of-place sensation that suffused his body like being in a daze, Vlad grabbed on the shoulder strictly, begging to it. The form cringed under his touch, wincing and hissing. In annoyance or sheer pain, he wasn't sure. Ignoring the reaction, he shook the being.

"Where is Daniel?" He had heard it, the scream and… He was clenching on the suited shoulder harder to the memory, voice breaking in a growing apprehension. "I'll ask you again, where is Daniel? What did you do?" The body beneath his hold, cried out, trying to get away from him, arms kept tight around the chest, desperately.

"Don't— don't touch me!" The voice hiccupped in a mix of echoing and human-like tone, meaning to be a warning note for him to stay away. It did it, Vlad paused for a thought, mind halting at the sight of the being. The longer he was looking at it, the more he noticed it wasn't Phantom. Something similar, but not the ghost-form of the poor boy he had meant to help out.

In the recall, his mind had stopped, putting together instantly what was exactly in front of him. Pictures from a few minutes ago assembled into a horrible scene: the creature, the fusion of— Now, he saw it too, the yet unstable merge, with spread-through dissolving magenta hairline fractures on the turquoise skin, eyes forcefully kept shut in a struggle while the earlier snow-white hair was mirroring a weird flame, twitching and twitching. It looked – if it could have been a human – that he was witnessing a sort of seizure, young body twisting in pain, under something indescribable, and fingers protectively clenching over the chest, and…

"M-Murderer…" the being breathed out suddenly, cutting in the awed, tensed-up, ensued silence. Vlad frowned at the word. It was like an icy cold blade, stabbing through him, accusing with its faint voice, barely louder than a whisper. The word sent a bad shiver up to his spine until it cleared the truth around him entirely. Vlad gasped in horror, his mind sinking helplessly, so pulling towards the incomprehensible recognition.

"You— you killed him…"

"K—killed him?" The voice was high and incredulous. "He— he was the one who wanted to get rid of me and you— You! You served him!" It shouted out unexpectedly in a harsh echoing tone, words reverberating within the walls, hitting an entirely inhuman edge, clouding everything and leaving behind nothing but the yelled-out words in the air.

The creature fell back, weakly, as if triggering with the lashing out something inside. The black-and-white suited arms squeezed around the body. It begged voicelessly, in a faint, muted whisper, leaving Vlad confused, unable to follow the turning of happenings from one moment to another.

Then the shaking, the hiccups, the pleads, everything died away, ending in a drained-out outline of a form with limp limbs, laying on the ground like a forgotten rag doll with empty, lifeless eyes, staring into the nothingness.

Despite the inhuman sight, the outline looked like a rested human, tired out, gazing blankly ahead, eyes unfocused, and maybe uncomprehending too. A moment later, in a thought, the whole became clear: it had no reminiscent of anything alive, it was a left-behind stray dog, riven from a once called home, disowned, ripped out, as maybe a soul could be from its human vessel. Stepping over the perplexity, and the comparison the sight made in his mind, focusing instead on the present, Vlad moved closer again, trying to get its attention.

"Phantom," the creature glanced up to him briefly, the moving of the eyes sluggish. Vlad couldn't make out what colour was it, but surely it was neither the glowing green nor the icy blue. It was too glassy and dark for either of those. Neither he could be sure the name or just the noise got its attention to look at to him now. Vlad continued before the overall sight of the spectre could have twisted his heart. As contradictory as it felt but he couldn't deny the miserable look of the creature. But right now, momentarily, he had much greater things to worry about, namely its human part, later he might worry about the ghost-side too, but his first preference was to find out what exactly had happened. "I need to know, where is Danny. Do you hear me? I need to—"

A soft chuckle interrupted him, so unfitting at the moment. The gloved fingers slipped on the floor in an embryonic manner, giving out the first sign of the body getting 'alive'. "Funny… you've always called him Danny if you wanted something…" it mumbled ahead, shoulders shifting a bit as if forcing itself to soon get up. "Danny." The name was pressed like a curse, with a mimicked honeying tone. "Nothing but a traitor." It stated, detachedly, shaking the head instantly, coming to see some inner deduction. "No, that's—that's not true... You are a traitor." It corrected the previous ascertainment. Seemingly, the more it spoke, the more it began to move. Now the creature was almost sat up, eyes glaring at him, accusing. "You betrayed him, you said to him, he—" It squeezed its eyes shut abruptly, keeping those closed for a long time with a frown, body trembling greatly again. The mumbling only could be made out when it was loud enough, repeated over and over again, like a stuck-in tape with one single word: traitor.

He had to stop it, Vlad came to see, this insanity until he could, until the ghost-like being was capable of recalling anything from before. Witnessing something to turn into a ghost was something he could have never thought he would see: the mental decay, the reset of the memories of a once-living being, the clear state ending up with one primitive 'inherited' thought from their human life, with only a vague reminder to anything… But then again, it wasn't the moment for that now anyway, nor the perfect time to be amazed by that. It was about Daniel, and…

Phantom was not Daniel. A part of him maybe, but not Daniel's ghost. Phantom was nothing but a name, a separated façade from any normalcy, a stronger manifestation of an endured unfortunate contamination, and... He had to know what had happened with the teen because a minute ago he had seen him, the two figures: this creature keeping down the boy on the floor, towering over the petrified figure like a predator would declare their prey as their own over anyone else's, gloved hands lighting up green over the human chest, nails like claws digging in the skin… then Daniel's relieved glinted up blue eyes, recognising him moving, hopefully meaning help to get him out the entrapment, and then…

In a sudden determination that the recall induced in him, Vlad jumped at the suited being, pinning it down on the floor, and staring at it strictly. He had to get the answer before it could have forgotten anything. His time was limited, in the lack of a human host it couldn't hold up much longer the memories. He had to use it wisely. His hold was strong despite the spreading panic in his mind and the overall dizziness in his body, like an elemental part of him would have been missing – but at this moment he couldn't allow himself to be engaged with that visceral absence.

It gritted its teeth at his unexpected movement, flashing up canines, and sneering. With the familiar sight that Vlad so far only had seen in his ghost side before, his hold only became stronger. The less he wanted now to be distracted by the fact of what was inside of the being.

"Listen to me," Vlad shook the figure strong. "Where is him? Where is Daniel? What did you do?" For a long moment, it stared at him with an odd glinting, eyes like black cherry, turning brighter vivid after each passed second, telling him that maybe the words were understood and grasped. But the creature said nothing. His gripping clenched stronger on its shoulder, desperate to get an answer, any answer, as strong that if it had been a human, he might have even heard the bones crunch.

The creature squirmed as if uncomfortably, turquoise face twisting into a pained grimace, hissing. The human-like reaction froze Vlad. He almost could have sworn he had heard a faint voicelessly gasped 'hurts'. He backed in shock, releasing the being like he had touched something scalding.

Getting freed from his capture the gloved fingers trembling reached towards the part he had kept it a moment ago, pierced. Vlad couldn't tell the movement as it was massaging the previously pressed point petrified him, or the recognition over the fingers, as fresh wetness was glistening on the thumbs. The exact sight blended into the dark material, but— his eyes widened, mind stopping in absolute horror as he identified the glinting on the gloves. It was blood, not the glowing ectoplasmic green, no, it was—it was soaked with browning human blood, and…

"You— you wasted him to—to literal nothingness…" He couldn't form the words, he— he stared at the only sign that he had got so far about Daniel, a piece of the puzzle about what could have happened, and… There was nothing more. There was—there was just… nothing more. A hiccupped sound escaped from his lungs, dread with the spreading darkness clouding his mind, pulling, so pulling, and…

The being turned the flickering head towards him, eyes shifting to a brighter red, almost into an orange colour. Then it frowned, ugly, brows crossing together forcefully, like fighting off a just appeared awful headache, blinking and blinking over and over again, the colour of the eyes seeming odd during each. And even, the gloved fingers pressed around the head, claw-like nails squeezing the skill tight until it was fought off.

"No, I—I… I didn't… I—" The stuttering stopped abruptly in a scowl, teeth gritting in a snarl, then the creature shot its eyes open with vibrant glowing redness, glinting up with an unmistakable shining of inhumanness, lacking any sign of cognisance behind those. Vlad stared at it, coming to see, as with a growl the entirely being got alive, the moment to do anything, was over. The creature shot straight to the only other (or remained) present existence, to him.

It wasn't the memory that hurt, no, that, he did it many times already, masochistically wondering how things had turned out under each step if he had done anything differently, even just slightly... It wasn't the guilt either, no, it was now that during the past days when he was seeing the scene again and again, and the more bothering the detail felt about the shifted eyes, the moment before the being had stroken.

It might have been just the rush of adrenalin that he had managed to grab on a nearby object instantly back then, creating a very lame obstacle to hold up the being quickly before reaching him, he couldn't tell, or maybe it had been just luck. Then he had run, shamefully, using out the brief time between two actions. But what running could have meant when the next second everything had collapsed around him… Sometimes, Vlad asked himself it would have been easier to do nothing and get wasted along with the boy, because—because the being, that he had created, was right, and the whole was his fault.

Daniel had died because of him, and this fact was constantly haunting him, but not as much as the unsettling picture now about the old memory, tricking his mind about the last seconds before the being had gotten loose… It might have been just the years, altering it in retrospect… but like those murderous eyes could have changed for a bare moment before attacking him to something bright in the struggled blinking. But of course, that couldn't have been true. How could it be anyway? And, Vlad either knew what it could have meant if that could be true…

Daniel was not alive for a long time, his creation had murdered him – and in fact, that awful mix of the worst had been right, he was the one who had murdered the poor boy. And he deserved everything to pay for that crime. But even if a decade had passed since then, in a way the hope – the crazed-up determination – was present, not going away for the slightest second, or fading away, it was keeping him on the path to try. To try a way to fix it, for Daniel. If Phantom had been Daniel, and the creation was partly Phantom, then a piece of Daniel, an imprint was still beneath the current existence. Deep though, very deep, but it might have been possible. And nothing could have convinced him about its opposite. His only task was to find that piece, that little sparkle of remnant and bring that up to the surface, that tiniest sane thought belonging to Daniel within it, and… seize on that.

But of course, the task wasn't that easy, in fact, impossible to accomplish. Days were hard, and only turning harder. Lies were told, through the years, to Valerie (to keep up the pure illusion about Daniel, turning meanwhile 'Phantom's' image deeper and deeper in her to absolute hatred – feared Vlad the day when she would be faced with the truth…), to Skulker (telling he had a way to stop the menace, and he had only needed time to figure out the best solution…). Who could have guessed nothing his words were but clever lies, a play for a delay? Or whatever he had done through those years, helping out to create the shield, maintaining Valerie's suit… everything was just about postponing.

The whole was just a distraction, nothing but a temporary cover-up that though worked, but he saw everything differently because he was the only one who was aware of the truth. They saw 'Phantom' (or whatever name it was going in their eyes, probably not called Phantom, after all, Phantom had been once a 'kind' ghost, and the two even in their eyes couldn't be equalled…), but Vlad could see behind the curtains, its mind was slipped by his impact. Phantom once had been Daniel, and Daniel was never ever a monster, nor mindless or cruel, it was Plasmius. His ghost part twisted out the being, pushing down everything else it was made of, only leaving behind something that could kill Daniel.

Even admitting to himself one day was the hardest that he had never planned to destroy the being. Phantom was after all the only remnant from the boy, and deep down, Vlad knew a slight little part was from Daniel still there, forgotten, but there. Phantom was there somewhere under that fusion. And maybe if it could be again whole then… But it was just a naïve dream, based on a not-proven hope, and maybe there was no way to make it happen either, to make it whole again. Daniel was dead, for a very long time, over a decade, he should have just accepted it, but he couldn't do it. And while he denied it, he was nothing but an old man, hanging on the last line of a stubborn faith, like it could ever work, like there was any chance to make it work… There wasn't, he just couldn't accept it, at all, not until he lived at least…

Lived… Vlad chuckled dryly at the thought, as he was doing it more and more frequently. Days were numbered, in a countdown for a while, and just as the truth about the impossible, he refused to admit this part too. Maybe he should have at least made out a scenario for Valerie, how to manage everything without him, but if he did that, then indeed he would see that there would be a future without him – not that he would have been that important, but… No, the maintenance of the shield could be automatized, even the development of her suit, but… it wasn't about that, no, not about that.

He was standing between Daniel and anyone else. It wasn't about protecting the creature, but he was sure, once he wouldn't be in the way, keeping a bit back everything, then they would figure out a way to destroy it in no time. The ghosts had already made alliances over the years, and Valerie was harder to keep back to leave the shield (thankfully Damon was his saner words, telling her that she was needed inside, so then at least until her father could have a word in that and until she listened to him, Vlad didn't have to worry about the Red Huntress). If he hadn't been there, as a silent barrier, he was sure, any nicely planned out assault could have been fatal against that fusion.

He could have figured out anything to destroy the being ages ago, that was true too, after all, the gauntlets had worked in the past – anything similar could do it then, making the merge reverse, but what would happen then? Ending up with two ephemeral ghost-parts? Watching as those – especially Phantom – faded away in a moment with no adequate human-part to attach to? No, he didn't want to imagine that. Besides, for that he should have had captured the menace in the first place – which was one of the problems, the other thing was that he didn't want to do that, such a cruel scenario to be conducted, even after following Valerie's reports through the years about everything it had done.

He didn't want to hurt Daniel, the memory of the boy, in the shadow of the creature. It wasn't easy to follow everything behind a mask over the years though, but this 'act' made him only become more and more determined after each passing day. And yet, even when it became not possible his 'plan' to make happen, Vlad denied it, telling over and over again that he only needed time, nothing but more time… Time, that in fact the least he had. It all grew into a terrible headache in his every awakening moment, not leaving him rest, especially not during the nights.

Now, Vlad took a deep breath, preparing mentally to fight off anything distracting during the day, during another day to make the 'plan' to work, and only letting everything come back tenfold when he hit the bed again. Pushing the pain down for hours was showing, disrupting his supposed resting time too, turning that useless, but in fact, when he didn't deserve any worthwhile resting until he couldn't figure out what he had to.

Searching for his staff around him – as his longest friend, and constant support in the past years since his body began to betray him – Vlad frowned at the sight next to his sleeping spot: at the glass and blister pack, put within arm-reach. His memory tended to slip, but that drawback only ruined his ability at his computer so far, slowing his thinking down, but not about forgetting something he usually had never done. He would have never put the pills here. He couldn't have forgotten something he had never done before, right?

The pack seemed as if it was missing a pill, just as if he had taken in one before sleeping, but… Turning the medicine to its other side, Vlad nearly dropped it, hearing the date on its back in a said-out questioning tone. "Does it help at all?". Closing his eyes, Vlad could unmistakably recall a raised-up eyebrow. The whole mirage-like scene soon faded away, leaving him in nothing but startled confusion. It felt so real, but of course, that couldn't be. Clenching with his fingers on his blanket, Vlad tried to cover up the bad shiver the picture was sending through his entire body. But his thumbs soon paused, at the odd unfamiliarity over the fabric, he was touching. It was smooth, warm, and…

With shaking hands over his strange, not-ragged cover, Vlad glanced at it, mind pausing at the sight of the black and white material. He snapped his eyes towards the curtain that separated the different parts of his 'hiding' place. The bones in his neck cracked at the sudden movement, but it was dwarfed and forgotten by the flash of memory that suddenly materialised around him.

The steps, even coming from an unalive being, echoed harshly as it was getting closer, then tearing away the curtain, then it glared ahead frustrated. "Could you stop it?" In a fit of coughing, unable to comprehend anything but begging for the moment to be capable of taking in any proper breath again, Vlad barely could recognise the appeared form as it was staring straight at him. "I said—" Uncared about the rising impatient tone, he just waved towards a direction. "I won't—" it started again, only to be interrupted by an urgent waving and another fight, lungs burning like the driest desert in midday.

If Vlad had any comprehension at the moment, maybe the situation could have sunk with its impossible ridiculousness, but at that moment he was only glad to use another one's presence, no matter who his helper was. In a curse, the being moved, and the next he could grasp was the life-saving gulp from the glass – water though having an iron fence-like after-taste, but he had learned for a while to ignore it. Putting the glass down then next to him, saving the rest for later, Vlad blinked at the being, rather thankful than startled, and on delay recognising everything around him.

"You are still here." Surprised or confused he got by the creature's presence – he couldn't tell. Maybe it was both. But for sure, his note made the being only stare at him, red eyes eagerly marking him. "Or, you haven't figured out yet whether to kill me or not." Vlad read out from the silent gaze a very possible explanation, highlighting the missed opportunity. "In which case, not giving me that glass of water would've been sufficient." The flame-like hair twitched up strangely, dark shadow turning the turquoise skin into greyish teal. "I'm just saying," Vlad added to the odd, undecipherable expression on its face. The creature blinked slowly, as if bored, then with a gloved finger pointed towards the half-empty glass.

"Is that enough?" Probably to the long enough silence, spent without getting any reply, it elaborated. "Against the coughing." was it clarified. "Is that enough?" A second passed while Vlad could see what was just asked, yet his mind was too slow and numb to grasp it. "It's annoying." the being explained, reluctantly. "I'm in the middle of something, your death rattle is disturbing. So, is that enough or not?" The question was repeated, losing patience and expecting a reply. "I don't want to be disrupted again."

"Ah." Vlad let out a reaction, at last, thoughts stuck at the eerie feeling that the inquiry nearly sounded as hidden care – if he hadn't known who he was speaking with. "No, it's not enough." he corrected the assumption, "But I have to say, you phrased it quite precisely. Were you just guessing or it was an exaggerated expression?" Meeting with puckered dark brows to the addition, Vlad mumbled instead, feeling superfluous to explain such frailnessto someone who certainly couldn't grasp it. "Not important..."

Eying long the glass, with the water within, like a thirsting in a desert would have marked a lake, considering to believing in it or not, he then came to see, indeed a simple glass wouldn't be enough. Not the water, but anything else to bear with soon. Vlad peered up at the being. "I suppose you don't plan to kill me in the next twenty minutes." Getting nothing but a tilted head, white hair flickering twitchingly as if taking a question silently, Vlad clarified. "Then, I'd ask for the pills too, those might help even better. If that counts to you anything." he added, nodding towards the opposite wall, built-in with his packing containers. "Third from the left, it's right at the top, hard to miss."

"You have legs." The instant retort came.

Ignoring the baffled blinking to his request, Vlad reminded the being. "Yes, I'm aware. But you left my walking cane out there." Right now, he wanted to recall neither to himself nor to the being how exactly he had got here, to his sleeping quarter, because it was enough unsettling to imagine, even now, later. "So, unless, you would like to be my support to get there—" He didn't really get surprised by the growl that was telling enough about the opinion of such hilarious scenario. "—then I'd ask for that medicine too if you don't mind." Vlad draw out to the figure, brows furrowing at the thoughtful expression on the turquoise face as if it had been somewhere else in mind.

Vlad waited a second. It might have been just that the request hadn't reached it, but then a minute elapsed, and nearly another too, so then with a sigh, the situation became clear. How could he have believed for a second to trust it with something like that? He was just ridiculous, forgetting everything, thinking for a mere thought that maybe— but of course, he was blind, and hopeful again.

Drawing out a way to the described place, needing the less awkward handhold until his knees were refusing to work with him – especially after the previous near-to-collapsing act that he better avoided doing again – Vlad then accepted the undeniable. Slowly, with the planned-out favourable path in his mind, he slipped a leg over his sheet, careful to not trigger anything unpleasant with it. Along with the noise of his moving, a wider shadow moved in a blur, too fast for him to comprehend or to follow, then the next thing he could grasp was a reproaching note.

"Don't tell me you are eating this… Does it help at all?" Vlad needed a second repeating while he could hear the words. The crimsonness stared at the blister pack, turning it around to examine the other side. The forehead disapprovingly wrinkled, then it looked at him, questioning. "It says 2008… even I know what year you are writing. I doubt you are oblivious about the expiration date. This." The being lifted the pills, kept within the clawed nails, pressing the word to get his attention. "Does it help at all?"

Astonished over the unexpected amounts of words it let out – so far it was either some notes or glaring (in which case, until it had said something, Vlad had to admit he entirely forgot it could speak, and very much appeared to be sentient) – he needed a second for the comment to sink, then frowned at the clear critique, replying in the uncensured version of the retort that had appeared in his mind about the issue. "Correct me, but there is hardly any way to keep up a proper pharmaceutical industry nowadays."

"It was only your choice to rot in this shit-hole." The deep echoing tone defined, with a sneer. "As I saw under that dome there was quite an advanced technology, you should have just been there as the rest of the people, gathered nicely like ants… I'm surprised they hadn't led themselves into mass-extension with the over-popularity or started a new plague."

"Can I get a pill at last or do you want to take any other civilisational disclaimer before that?" Vlad asked the being. As if recognising itself, it blinked, and in a huff – probably due to the 'temporary slave' state – it stepped closer, popping out one with a nail into his reached out opened palm. Feeling superfluous, Vlad only muttered a 'thank you' in his mind, taking in the medicine with a gulp, then looked up to the figure again, mind reeling over its attendance. "Why are you still here?"

"Like I said, I'm in the middle of something." It reminded him with a cold tone, like tired of repeating it.

"Let me guess… to figure out my plan."

Perhaps catching the wave of his words, finding such already cleared part unneeded to dig further, the red eyes flashed up with a brighter glowing. "I know you are hiding something, Plasmius, you can't—"

"Masters." Vlad clarified, "It's just Masters, no Plasmius anymore, you nicely removed my ghost side, remember?" The being annoyed blinked at him. "But answering for you note… yes, I know about the expiration date, but I don't think, in case of a collapsing immune system, it matters much, furthermore carries a lot of the weight in the whole if they couldn't even figure out what it causes. Nor in Amity Park they could make out anything against it, or delay the unavoidable if someone's body consumes itself."

There was a short silence – might have been awkward due to the unexpected words – then a second later, in the stillness, the dark brows puckered. The being eyed him long as if pieces of the priorly told addition would have assembled into one single note, then it whispered out the conclusion. "You are dying…"

Being aware of his own decay for a while, Vlad just shrugged the soon coming end down, "Everyone is dying, Daniel, some people are just simply… quicker. Not that it would bother you, wouldn't it?" He sent the creature a look, this time instead of examining the reaction such a statement could cause, he just gestured towards the blaster pack, still kept in the gloved fingers. "Can I get it? If you are planning to stay here for a while until you see through the so-called curtains… then I'd like to be the least – how did you phrase it before? – annoying. So if you could take it within arm-reach, then I'd be glad. Unless you want to kill me in the near future, of course, in which case—"

The tall figure took a big step back, expression undecipherable. Though Vlad couldn't exactly explain why, the reason was obvious if he thought about it for a second. "Well, yes, you might be right…" he sighed, "Torture is a nice way too, and undeniably more entertaining to watch than anything quick. That might be just too liberating, putting me out of it, with too much reminder to something called mercy."

A muscle visible twitched on the gloved arm, fingers clenching over the pack, then it moved. The whole played out in a flash, unfollowable, nothing clearer than a blur of a dark shadow. Only by the noises, Vlad could figure out what had just happened. The pack was harshly slapped next to him, the heavy curtain that separated the parts of his place was pulled back, to make a cover again, and a black and white cape swished in the air after the being as it left him alone.

But of course, that whole couldn't be true, why could it have spared his life? The whole thing was just something his mind was making up again. Even though Vlad couldn't explain the presence of the unfamiliar material but there could have been any other reason, something like a more believable explanation than the possibility that it was belonging to the being…

A shivering sensation stiffened him suddenly. Lacking any of those ghostly powers for a while, it was still clear to his simple human senses too what the breeze and the odd drop in the temperature meant.

"Daniel?" Vlad asked, turning towards where he suspected the kernel of the spreading eerie feeling. Even if aware the name wasn't standing for the being, but it wasn't approved from fusion so far either to be called Dan, so then, momentarily, he had no other idea how else to title the creature.

"Expected assumption, I have to agree, but I'm afraid, I'm not Daniel." An echoing voice said, surely less deep than for being the fusion. The words were accompanied by a constant noise that the better Vlad could describe as an old clockwork ticking.

The recognition over the background sound paled him. His mind wrecked to put together the reason for the ghost's presence now. What did he mess up this time? But even before Vlad could have taken the question, the so-far invisible form materialised.

Lingering on the peculiar sight, seeing at last with his eyes the mysterious god-like existence, purple ghostly tail swimming in the air, after more than thirty years since Vlad had heard the voice the first time, all his mind could perceive was one thing:

"I imagined you differently." The hooded clocktower-like being said nothing, just quirked a brow over his scarred eye. The object in the gloved, watch-accessorised hand then got Vlad's attention – not the staff with the clock-thing on the top, but the much familiar tool. "Ah, that explains it," Vlad commented bitterly, seeing the intention with him. "Though I assumed you're not the same person…" He blinked at the scythe calmly.

The ghost followed his eyes, taking a look at the object, like only now realising it. "Time is on very rare occasions linear for me, Vlad Masters, I'm just as a traveller like you. My ability simply allows me to see through the connections. What humans associate with this," he tilted a bit the scythe, musingly, "is way beyond my doings. Death is not among my tasks." he said, form shifting into an elder outlook with a grey beard and wrinkled face. "You could say, I've just forgotten it was in my hand." he cracked an entertained smile, red eyes marking the tool as if recalling the event. "I needed to be sure it scares out a certain youngster too. Curious humans are with their implemented superstitions while some things are just… tools. Even after a millennium, their belief remains the same. Interesting, isn't it?"

Vlad bored blinked at the ghost, probably noticing himself or the fact he should have explained his attendance – and exceptional visibility – the time-ghost continued.

"Excuse me for the theatrical play, however, I couldn't deny, I enjoyed the little confusion." A half-grin stretched on the face, taking the scythe than the same hand as the clock-themed staff was. He adjusted on the top of it, winding it up. "I didn't mean to scare you, although my reason to be here is doubtlessly related to what humans identify with such a metaphor." Clockwork turned to him now, with a serious face, "I came to give my condolences."

"Condolences?"

Then it came back. Young Daniel… He thought it was a dream too, an aftermath of a high fever, or something, with no proof to— except the odd medallion that he couldn't explain, but… "That— that happened, he was here and…" A knot in his chest made him swallow, a twisting recognition over the happenings he had believed as nothing but imagined hallucinations… Sometimes he had just got lost to decide whether the pictures were made-up or unbelievable reality, but— "He died. Daniel died. All happened again…" But of course, if anything had changed, then— then the timeline could have rewritten itself, destroying this outcome and… but— Looking at the floating ghost with the time-staff who must have seen everything, Vlad had to admit the being didn't seem surprised, rather patient, waiting for him to reach some point in an inner deduction. "You are not here because of Daniel, are you?"

"In a way, I am." Clockwork said then. "I'm here because Daniel is my responsibility, which consequently means you are too."

"Because it was my fault that happened to him…" Vlad whispered, guilt tenfold clouding his mind now that he got from the ghost of time his role in that horrible event.

"No." The word was pressed, getting Vlad's instant attention with the clear tone as it was said out. The ghost continued to him then, clarifying. "It's because you are important to him, and while I can't do more, at least you deserve to know what will happen. Thus condolences. It won't help much for him to understand, just in the long run, but he needs to know I was here." Vlad couldn't not notice anymore the present tense, his brows furrowed. The being – the fusion – albeit he was calling it Daniel, but… it wasn't. Still, the Master of Time was using the same name. Or was he talking about—

"You already see everything too, or will see soon," the ghost said to him, most probably seeing the struggled thinking on his uglily wrinkled forehead in an attempt to understand the words. "Don't worry, he will be fine. Eventually." Clockwork added, looking up from the adjusting on the staff, as if only later seeing it needed that addition too.

So to say, it didn't ease on the shiver that crept up on his spine, with a very bad omen-ish feeling about it. Condolences… There was something with it, something like… pity. At that moment, Vlad was glad that the mysterious blanket over him was giving him enough warmth against the coldness of that word.

"I have to go." Clockwork looked at him, eyes observing him oddly, tail moving sluggishly in the air, like considering telling something more, then he took a glance at the time-staff, like a human would have checked their watch. "Believe me, if I could do more, I would." he paused, gloved thumbs absently brushing the case on the ornament. "Daniel is mostly a blind spot for me. This is all I could do for you, you have to understand," he said, sounding apologising while taking a last look at him, then pressed a button on the top and disappeared in a circular light.

A minute elapsed, then another. Processing this whole slowly, Vlad turned back to his monitor, movement maybe too quick that he winced in the sudden pain, jolting through his skull, and throbbing in an echo with flashing of pictures from both a few days ago, and a decade back. Now, he regretted that he had left the pills next to his sleeping spot. It was enough a fight for him for today to get here, he didn't want to make that eternally long walk again, not for a while, not until his limbs adjusted to the sitting again.

As much as he hated the thought, but sometimes – especially lately – he again considered using that liquidated pure ectoplasm to ease on this whole, not caring about the guilt that would have triggered in him. But thankfully, he over and over managed to convince himself to endure the pain. At first one more day, then another one, then… Soon it became years since he hadn't taken in any. As hard it was, but he was proud of himself, able to resist such an easy temporary solution. He still cursed the moment when it had sunk in him how disgusting he was, how disgraceful, how… much a cold monster, enjoying its impact, uncared about what it was…

Taking a deep breath now, Vlad flicked the mouse, getting his computer alive, and trying to go back to solve the impossible. Whatever the ghost had said, until his mind could be present and his attention focused, and not showing any sign of degrading, he wanted to use it well.

As soon as his screen cleared up from the sleeping mode, he frowned at the small bar in the middle. He didn't remember leaving anything unfinished – well, this 'plan' was unfinished yet, but he always closed everything back.

Are you sure you want to open it? – Vlad had met with this message several times. There was a reason he programmed for every entry an automated locking. He hated going back. The twisting and suffocating feeling of the past... He couldn't take it. The haunting pictures during the nights when he saw those mostly, anything related to the past, were enough. Only on rare occasions, he had gathered enough will to open some earlier file, and only doing that for some checking in his calculations from some prior progress to make sure he hadn't missed anything, but this… He swallowed at the sight of the entry it was referring to. He knew that date. It was his first one, from ten years back. He had never come back to it since he had written it. He had never dared to, but…

Are you sure you want to open it? – it asked from him as a voice stuck-in the back of his mind. Even now, he didn't have any strength to click on the 'Yes', but… A faint background noise about tapping on a keyboard, clicking with the mouse and repeated scrolling sound, now slipped into his mind, like he had heard it before, in a dazed, uncomprehending state for him, but…

His fingers in shock lifted from the keyboard, his mind reeling over the pieces of a talking. He wasn't imagining it, that had happened, and… "Like I said, I'm in the middle of something.", then his own words: "Let me guess… to figure out my plan.". Even before his thoughts could catch what he was doing, he clicked on the 'No'. He instead called out the query about the history, waiting for the lines until it wrote out the information he was searching for. Then he leaned back in his seat, eyes taking in the sight.

There was a descending in the dates, the last one was opened first, then an earlier one, then… Each of his files was opened up, with a clear gap between the times, telling the content in those were read, then… As Vlad scrolled down, the list of the documents stopped, right before the oldest one could have been opened. Or, more like, before that one had been on to read too. It wasn't about some sort of interruption in the action, it could have been read later… No, it was about…

Not that it could have been the problem in his 'plan' to work out, but he examined the corroded wires on the slightly wet ground leading back to the last chamber like it could change on anything if he fixed those. Meanwhile, with his entire focus on the faulty piece, he became oblivious to his surroundings. Leaning ahead, deep to observe the amount of damage the dripping from the ceiling caused, it made his vision slip. So then, for sure not expecting anyone, returning to a somewhat standing position, Vlad nearly jumped out of his skin, recognising a very wide darker shadow in the corner of his eyes.

"Cheese logs!" he cursed out, letting a moment for his heart to beat at a natural pace again. The figure moved closer, revealing itself, with a curious smirk on its pastel-coloured face eying him, and his scare.

It took a moment to identify his intruder, though following the happenings through the years, but actually it was different to see the creature after that many years. Its contour changed, as if turning older – a decade older to be exact. If there couldn't be the once-saw flickering hair with the crimson glowing eyes, and especially with the emblem on the chest, Vlad might haven't even counted the two as the same, wrecking his mind over a disturbing thought of how that was even possible for it to age.

"I have to admit, I'm impressed." the fusion said with a deep echoey voice, admiring the place, "I never could have guessed you'd be such an idiot, hiding in plain sight… but here you are, in a rat hole, like a cockroach, moreover still alive... But of course, it's on to change now," it added, turning back to him, eyes vibrant red, glinting like it was waiting for this exact moment to happen for a while.

"How did you find me?" Vlad inquired.

"If my dimwit version could find you, then I guess I could do too," it said, sounding annoyed. "He is not as smart as he thinks he is. Was." it corrected immediately. Vlad frowned at the wording. "Was, of course, he is not anymore," it explained to him. "Wise, he thought himself to try to make this whole inevitable never happen."

"I thought as I just imagined it…" Vlad admitted. And indeed, seeing the boy after ten years, with the same face as Phantom like nothing had happened… How could he have counted as something real?

"Yeah, of course, it would be hard to admit you messed something up again, didn't it?" the creature chuckled. "But for the credit, I thought you were a rotting corpse for like a… decade, only weak yet to form as a ghost, not hiding like a scared-out rat. No fuss though, I'm here to fix this misunderstanding." A wide grin stretched on the turquoise skin, and the next thing Vlad could grasp as his back hit the wall, gloved fingers keeping him tight, strangled. "Any last words?" it offered generously.

Against the obstacle in the way, with claw-like fingers over his throat, Vlad tried to swallow. In an unconscious movement he blinked towards the chamber and weakly reaching towards the container, like a handhold, taking a glimpse at the hope for the last time at least. Like, seeing now, it wouldn't be more than just a dream. His thumbs brushing just slightly on the glass, made the squeeze around his neck more enclosing to be able to breathe properly. He didn't care about it though.

Most probably frustrated that the entrapment didn't get the required attention, especially in such an obviously supposed-to-be threatening position, the being snorted, following his eyes and noticing the pod along with the specimen init. Vlad's knees painfully hit the ground as he unexpectedly got released – though rather for the weakened bones than from the action itself.

Needing a long second to collect himself, Vlad waited out until the black spots disappeared from his sight, only then he could make out that the tall figure was now standing away from him, measuring the bright green fluid-filled chamber.

Fool he had been to deny he wasn't curious what was playing in the being's head, with eyes roving up and down on the floating form, outlook nearly matching to it. The eerie similarity sent a bad shiver up to his spine – but it could have been only the side-effect from the falling, joints tingling and adjusting again.

After a long silence, the creature snorted, hitting a mocking tone. "So, that what you were doing in the past ten years… building up an army." It peaked towards the other two containers, deep echoing voice chuckling as the opinion about such ridiculous hope to stop the menace was let out, laughing over it. At first, there was only a grin, then it turned into a cracking up. "If you think—"

"I'm not building an army, Daniel." Vlad cut it darkly, pausing the amusement instantly, probably by the name he referred to it. The turquoise face immediately turned into an indecipherable look, features stilled, then with a hissed-out tongue it snarled at him. The slightest level feeling threatened by it, Vlad stood the red gaze, already aware of the worst that could happen. "It's not an army," he said again, maybe too brave to denote the correction. "My reason is much less… drastic or evil. I'm—"

A gloved hand was shot up, silencing him. The figure stepped away, taking a look at the floating bodies in the slightly greenish liquid. Vlad crossed his brows at the movement that was unmistakably telling 'not a word'. And even, reading out from the examination, there was a muted ask 'don't help, I can figure it out on my own'.

"This," The gloved finger pointed to the first, oldest specimen of all. "This looks like Danny." It only appreciated the youngest-looking with a quick glance, moving instantly to the next one. "And this, this one is older, late teen aged. And…" The hand stopped in mid-air, frowning at the sight of the last and latest one, not even a year old since he had created it and it reached its current final form now.

Vlad, taking in the expression of the inhuman creature, it looked, staring at the pod, he could say, nearly uncomfortably. Seeing side-by-side the two – the being and the floating human-formed vessel – Vlad had to see, beyond some obvious mismatching details, the two looked the same. He didn't have to guess much to know what made the creature suddenly so speechless.

"In your current age, I believe." Vlad put it into words. "Or if Daniel would be alive now, at his age." Something weird glinted in the redness, something unfitting to the outlook, something like… no, he couldn't describe it. It was just odd.

"Hm." The being snapped away the eyes then from the latest one, taking a step back and looking at the other two, as the conclusion got born. "It's not an army, you say…" The echoing tone sounded thoughtful. For a second Vlad considered explaining his idea, but he couldn't take off his eyes as the threatening being was glaring at the floating vessels, one after the other, like pieces of a puzzle would have assembled in the mind, setting together eventually into a realisation, that in fact, those for real weren't some soldiers.

Maybe a minute passed, then, the being started clenching in the gloved fingers as if thinking deeply over something, only meeting with an obstacle before reaching to see the whole picture. Then it just turned away the flickering head, though not looking at him, as the question was taken. "Why?"

Pausing in the movement to reach after his walking stick, leaning against the wall of the cave, Vlad frowned at the oddly taken inquiry. It sounded almost natural, like a simple question, puzzled over something, and wishing to understand it. Easing the weight on his knees then, he breathed out, uncared if explaining his reason was superfluous – after all, he knew how it would end, it was just a temporary postponing right now, nothing else. But at least, he had a chance to maybe reach through the mask of the being, maybe reaching something inside too, like a remained part of Phantom, or a slight little remnant of that poor boy too.

"Phantom never could've destroyed Daniel, I'm not saying Plasmius would have, but I'm not a fool, the moment there was no barrier to get a hold on my ghost side, with my every nice quality… it consumed everything, suppressing everything that remained in Phantom from Daniel, forcing anything down, deep, barely existent in the being it became. Daniel was—" Vlad bit his lips hard, even after years twisted by the horrible event. "Daniel was never a monster, thus neither was Phantom. He was just… broken. Maybe Phantom is not him anymore, but a part of it, in the tiniest imprint… it is still there. It couldn't be brought back, but… maybe if it would have—"

"You are trying to recreate humanity." the being cut it, not questioning, not mocking, just stating.

Vlad still couldn't grasp the way as the note was said out, in a whisper. Years of secret studies would have needed to explain that it wasn't exactly like that, not that easily wordable either, and… It was unimaginable, entirely, as the creature then pointed out too, seeing the missed opportunity instantly. For a working vessel, he could have needed a human base, a fitting one, but of course, Daniel was dead. And, then… there was that case, that he after had counted as a mirage too, seeing it in a fit of fever or something, but… It hadn't been an illusion. He could have had a chance, using that miraculously appeared young Daniel for his 'plan', but…

At that moment, he had seen another way, what if time-travelling, rewriting everything could work? Then everything should have ceased to exist, this whole, this cursed aftermath of a circumstance he had caused, but… That Daniel had died too, and there was no change in this timeline, no rewriting, everything stayed the same, completely unbothered. And he had not just missed the chance, but also, he had lost another boy (or the same Daniel again) too.

Vlad rested his elbows on the desk, a bit lower from the keyboard, fingers clenching into each other, mind stuck in some sort of cloudiness. There was something he couldn't see, something in plain sight that was giving him a feeling that he was missing something obvious, something important, something…

The beeping grabbed him out of the stupor and spacing out. His legs were still tingling since he had staggered here from that something he dared to call his bed. His fingers automatically clicked on the incoming call, thoughts though still in a daze to comprehend the rushed flow of words in the line. It gave him a headache, losing the ability to follow the sentences right at the beginning. Somewhere around mid-speech, Vlad managed to stop the shocked female voice.

"Valerie, Valerie, dear, slow down…" he begged, massaging his throbbing temple. Most of the days when they talked, she was strict, matter-of-factly, but now… "The main points," Vlad asked her, aware that something must have upset her. Momentarily he was not in a state to be able to comprehend any speaking, not just an incoherent one, as much he wanted to calm her down against whatever made her behave like that.

Hearing a deep, reluctant breath, she started again, with forced calmness. "I saw him. I saw Danny."

Massaging the bridge of his nose, Vlad slowly answered. Right now, he had no energy to get into the details of how time-travelling worked. "Yes, I know, dear. I read your message." He meant to explain it, but apparently, it had slipped out of his mind in the past few days, Vlad could just hope he didn't have to do it now. "He was not ours, he was—"

"No, I am not talking about last week, don't you listen?! I am talking about now!" Letting out a deep sigh, Vlad gathered every patience to endure this talking.

"Valerie…"

"No. I know what I saw!" she immediately interrupted him, pressing the word. "Just now, Vlad, he was—he was here. My age, not—not a teen, and… he took those things, and—"

"What things?" Vlad stopped the stutter. There were perhaps many details she wanted to rush out at once, but this part halted his mind.

"Those things," her voice turned annoyed like she hadn't been listened during the entire time, but then she answered him. "Golden, gear-like with that seal and... It was in their neck, and… I sent a picture before." Valerie complained, reminding him. From the momentary silence that suddenly ensued in the line, Vlad put together, she was waiting for him at least to open the sent mail now – at least now, if he had missed it before. Not even a second later, she urged him. "Did you open it? Vlad, did you—"

Silencing her growing impatience, Vlad clicked on the necessary buttons, pictures from the referred object filling out his screen. He didn't need a moment to realise what he was seeing, he had the same medallion in his possession somewhere around, broken, unusable, but the same tool for time travel.

"What did it say?" Vlad asked, ignoring Valerie's confused grasp probably due to the out-of-nowhere question. "Daniel, dear, the one you met with, what it said, what exactly it did. Details, dear. I need details to know why it took these."

There was a beat of silence in the line that let the pronouns sink. "It? Wait, that— that wasn't Danny, was it? It was—it was…"

Seeing the mistake he made, Vlad internally cursed himself, trying to neglect the spreading ache in his mind to understand this whole. But then, he came to see with Valerie to handle meanwhile, that couldn't happen, and if his deduction was right…

"Valerie, listen to me, is Damon around? Is your father there too?" He spoke in the line again, without waiting for a reply, he continued firmly. "I assume he is. Good, stay with him then."

"What?"

"Just stay with him, Valerie, that's an order." He said, catching the first syllable of her instant disagreeing, but it was already late, Vlad ended the call. It didn't take a second to hear the beeping again, but he closed it out, counting it nothing but background noise, completely deaf to it from now. His racing thoughts were much louder anyway with the growing trembling through his entire body to regard anything else.

Condolences… There was something with that word as Clockwork had said it, yet Vlad couldn't see what.

Since the last time, he knew Valerie wouldn't have fallen for any trick, not again, and even… he had been there, and he had heard Valerie's report about that event too after that, knowing she really had believed it was Daniel (Danny as she still called the boy) because the form had just sounded so… lost. Then the whole thing with her father… She had been haunted about that false Daniel for long, blaming herself, and her hatred towards the being became only stronger since that, through the years….

But what if it wasn't— what if it wasn't a trick? Neither back then. Vlad had remembered how lost he had been all those years ago, getting to know his ghost side at first, getting relieved once he could change back to human, and… Remnant. An imprint… delayed reaction… What if— but no, that couldn't be true, but what if– what if it had forgotten for a mere second that it wasn't Daniel anymore? Being not a hybrid anymore, about able to change to human? Going back to— to home, because for a slip of a mind it had forgotten everything? And only as everything had turned out, Damon attacking the mimicked form of the boy instantly to protect Valerie from it… and only in that moment, it had realised what it was… That train of thoughts occupied his mind since then.

But that assumption was only ridiculous, nothing else. It shouldn't have… remembered to things, not at all. And if it did, then where were those things through the years? Suppressed? No, of course not. That was against how ghosts worked, that was against how those formed contaminations had worked, their ghost sides had had no conscience on their own. But that gaze at the medicine… as if seeing what was that for. But that meant… No, that just couldn't be… Daniel hardly had known, even back then any specific medicine to this disease (or at least with the similar symptoms to some human diseases), and… it was him, his knowledge, with years of studies, not Daniel, and…

Blood, oozing out from an injury, not the ectoplasmic green as from the chest where those claws had—

"No." Vlad shook his head heavily now.

But that question with that odd tone… "Why?"… Such a simple word, but… and that look at the last one, like longing, like— like remembering… The outlook of the body had bothered the creature, that was undeniable, but why? Because it was similar? Or because it was near to being human? Or because the being knew too from how he had got that form? No, Vlad had to snort at the last thought, it couldn't remember. If it did, then… then— Why was his head a mess, incapable to see it clearly, to put together, at last, the pieces? Now, he really considered taking in some ectoplasm… maybe that could help a bit, to make his brain work properly, to see through this whole.

But he guessed that couldn't help much anymore – not it had done back then… It would have just filled with him guilt again. Even the recall about the last event he had used any ectoplasm sickened Vlad now… with the overdosing, ending up for a short time with greenly lit-up fingers, when hoping had overwhelmed him that he maybe again could— But of course, it wasn't working like that. The morning after that had been worse than any hangover… Then it had sunk, with twisting cruelty and apathy…

It never should have been bothered, it never should have been… consumed, not even for a full-ghost… It was a sin, and he hard had understood it, hating himself since then, not getting it at the beginning how much it was sacred. He abhorred that he had simply ignored Skulker's words, questioning his intention with it. But the ghost had done it for him because he had said it was connected to stop the menace. So then, the artificial spectre was willing to step over everything, to help him out for the final aim instead against its sacredness…

In a way, Vlad hadn't been lying … the only difference was what people counted as a menace, ruining everything… But now, looking back, he was just ashamed, trying not to think about that much since the thought about what pure ectoplasm was, had hit him. Forming ghosts and fading ones, the energy within those in-between states of a ghost, a light dying out, a form to get born… All because to endure the unavoidable, just to feel again, even for the slightest second the tingling it caused… He had been stubborn, and a soulless fool.

Sometimes he had wondered if there were at all any steps from what he had ever made, that wasn't a wrong decision. But… Vlad had to see, there wasn't, ever. He was nothing but a stubborn old man, and a fool, unable to let things go, and for real, if he was, then so be it, he was. But he wouldn't leave this world until he worked out his 'plan', or else fate had to decide it instead of him. At least for once in his life he wanted to do something for someone – if the first time it hadn't happened as it was supposed to. Maybe it was blindness, maybe it was self-tormenting, maybe it was penance, he didn't care now.

But that many details… like brunches of a grape, was spreading without end. "Those things." The being had gone back, but for why? It shouldn't have mattered if— if it hadn't changed… Then Clockwork's words… Condolences… His thoughts were like berries in a jelly, stuck in a state, frozen for all eternity, unable to reach any point in this whole mess, to get out of this swirling chaos. Why it had gone back at all? For what purpose? If it had stayed the same… if everything had remained the same as now it was, and— and if nothing had mattered… then why? "Why?"…

An impossible hazy thought appeared in Vlad's mind, slipping abruptly into the clouding chaos with the absurdity that scenario could have meant. What if it wanted– what if it wanted to be whole again? His calculations were right, so somehow if—if Daniel could have been here… if Daniel could have been alive to be here, then the whole could have been accomplished, but… that should have meant that there was some sort of strong desire towards something beneath the creature, which couldn't be, it was not a ghost, it was a fusion, not–

"No, it's not that," Vlad concluded. "It's much… bigger." He came to see. "…he took those things." Valerie's words came back to his mind once again. At first, even though Valerie was reluctant to confess an injury to him through the years, strengthening the facade of the Red Huntress, especially for herself, about imagining herself some sort of unbreakable and indestructible heroine, but… it wasn't about that. "It didn't hurt her…" Vlad followed the train of thoughts. "Why it—"

Vlad's eyes fall on his computer again, overlooking the notes about the many missed calls a day after he had had a call with Valerie. The history of his previously opened files was still on the screen, as proof of the creature's attendance and thorough research. He needed to understand this mystery. He was missing something, he knew that. Something obvious… something about its intentions…

The words of the statement slowly faded away in the air – "You're trying to recreate humanity" – like droving an even greater wedge between them, clearing the truth about the absurd impossibility to make it happen. It wasn't mocked though.

"I'm sorry." There was a beat of silence, then Vlad continued, uncared if it was pointless. If there was any part from Daniel in Phantom, and if there was any tiniest part from Phantom in the creature, that at least once he had to say it aloud. "I'm sorry, Daniel," he repeated, gathering everything that he ever wanted to say in the past ten years, if once he had a chance to talk with the boy again. "Everything that happened with you… You have to know, I'm sorry. Their death and… I'm sorry, I didn't do more, I'm— I'm sorry I couldn't do more. I'm sorry I—" It was like a knot, an unswallowable one, the hardest of all, but then forcing his mind, Vlad breathed out. "I'm sorry I killed you."

Vlad glanced towards the being that still was eying (could be said from a safe distance) the containment chambers. "You were right, back then. It was me who—who murdered Daniel. With my stupidity that this whole could work, and… and with Plasmius, and—" Vlad paused, brows frowning at the oddness on the turquoise face that was turning into some sort of— The glowing red eyes moved side-to-side, thinking, mirroring internal rapid thoughts as if it had been listening to him, and now comprehending those, but… "You don't… you don't remember to it, to— to Daniel… or you are just repressing it?"

The shifting of the eyes stopped, huffing at his words. "I remember him." It stated, though with snapped away head, gazing at the floor, and with crossed arms over the chest. The crimsonness, though hidden now – or at least hoped to be not seen for him – still was continuing the previous movement.

Trying to close out the rather childish behaviour, Vlad sighed. "Listen, Daniel, what I want to say is—"

"Enough!" The being barked up, voice echoing harshly within the walls of the cave, in an uncontrollable mix of anger and frustration. Then it growled, gloved fingers lighting up vibrant green. If there was any hesitation before, now it shattered. The next second the muscles stained and the being shot out to him.

The darkness only slowly lifted from Vlad's eyes, black patches dissolving, and reuniting everything around him again, the dancing of the shadows coming together into a contour, with forms to be recognisable. The glowing green flickering of clenched fingers in front of him died out in a surprised manner. Maybe acting as he had dodged from the attack on purpose would have been better, but Vlad knew, the being was confused over his action, seeing too it was merely intentional. Maybe on this particular occasion, he should have thanked his falling body for meaning protection and not just damning his days, but this was not the right moment to praise such luck.

Forcing himself to get over the sudden piercing pain, spreading through his whole body, Vlad peered up at the creature, tilting his head again the wall of the cave, as he explained. "My knees… it does that sometimes, though the timing probably not the best, I reckon. Unfortunately, I can't control it at all. But I guess you can see it too." he added, trying to move a bit at least one of his legs, stuck under the other, but the attempt only ended up with a renewed sharp pain. He let it go immediately, keeping back hard a wince. It very much seemed he had to wait a few seconds before trying again, and only hoping until then his limbs wouldn't go numb.

"You look miserable." Vlad heard the note. Without any doubt, that was true. Falling on himself, just out of nowhere, without any warning, like that collapsing wooden toy, and ragged even…

"I appreciate the compliment, truly. Try to live without a ghost side that's presence solved anything human and faulty so far, then we could talk." Vlad grunted, right now, more frustrated than in hurt. Letting out a resigned sigh, he raised his eyes at the being that was towering over him. "I won't be able to get up for a few minutes, so if—"

"Don't call me Daniel." the creature sneered, returning to the previous issue. "I'm not him."

Looking at the figure, Vlad had to see, with the flickering, nearly translucent hair, blueish skin and dark red eyes, glaring at him, he was indeed wrong, but… Vlad moved, shifting his legs carefully now to avoid those going numb soon, then pointed out. Apparently, they had to continue that discussion this way...

"Then tell me, what you call yourself, hm? Phantom?" The being growled at him, like a predator, showing its teeth, and giving out an unmistakable opinion about that name too. "You are confusing, I hope you are able to realise it. Not Daniel, certainly not Phantom, and I highly doubt—" Vlad shut his mouth, taking a narrowed look at the fusion. "What about Dan?" he voiced his first suggestion. A dark brow quirked up as if curiously. "I might have other ideas if you don't like it…" A moment spent in stillness, and if he could confess, the longer he was examining the figure… "It's fitting if you ask me."

"That's a human name." The being spoke, at last, scoffing at the idea. "I don't need any stupid names." Yes, right, why it would have needed any, but…

"Well, me on the other hand, I do." Vlad debated, ignoring as the red eyes were looking at him. Perhaps their current state was uncomfortable for it too, or the issue with the names frustrated it, Vlad couldn't be sure. "At least I deserve calling my murderer by a name, don't you think? Knowing what I created. Or you'd like me better title you as they usually refer to you? Perhaps, that would please you better, but forgive me if I am old-fashioned."

The creature stared at him long, jaw clenched, but then just nodded towards him, and to his renewed attempt, trying to get up, but his knees were still refusing to work with him and cooperate nicely.

"What's your problem anyway?" it asked. To the question his hand, reaching towards his cane, paused.

Vlad slowly blinked. "Hardly it concerns you, or matters, doesn't it?" And indeed, right now, the least he wanted to go into the details. Grabbing on his support now, he pushed himself up from the ground, fighting off as much as he could the popping and trembling in his knees, then—

A sharp pain rushed through his nerves, darkening his vision again. The moment he put together, he would fall back, something grabbed him, strong hold with digging nails clenched on his upper arm, keeping him tight on the spot.

"Do not dare to think it means anything." came the strict clearance instantly as Vlad startled snapped his eyes at the being, confused. But there was something in the crimson eyes, under the crossed brows that he couldn't explain, something uncanny compared to the whole inhuman, insentient outlook...

Everything was so confusing now. He didn't know what to believe in, or what was at all the reality. His mind was hazy, especially in the past days. There were proofs, to the being's attendance, to everything, but… And for sure, the more time elapsed, the clearer the past became too, but… the latest times faded into absolute forgetting, tricking his mind. In one moment, Vlad thought he could grasp everything, but in the other… he should have paid more attention when Cecilie had been talking about their parents, maybe now he could be more informed about… well, at least about how to handle this part. But unfortunately, he had given a shit about it back then, and hardly his case was similar. It was just the bad combination of everything, the inner shutting of his body, along with everything else it could reach, messing up his comprehending too.

But at least, that Vlad couldn't deny if nothing was true from this whole – why should it have been, the more he was thinking about it, the more ridiculous it felt – then at least he was glad for his very imaginative mind, creating such pictures, almost vivid to be entirely believable, connecting those tiny nuisances about everything around him. Like as now, days after, as he was opening his eyes, with an odd warmness in the air around him, with a new, very clear hallucination in front of him again.

It was mocking him, he knew that, laughing at him without words to be too weak to get out of the bed, only capable to blink slowly at it. Vlad frowned tiredly, counting that the mirage would disappear the next moment anyway, but it stubbornly stayed. It was crouching next to his sleeping spot and staring at him as if waiting for something, maybe for him to wake up properly. "Go away…" Vlad mumbled, pulling upper the yet in a way much warmer material than the others he had – still a mystery, but he had given up to decipher those bothering details. A chuckle suspired from the blue-eyed illusion, pinching on the black and white blanket, meaningfully.

"I told you I'd come back for it, didn't I?" it said to him, lips stretching into a wider smirk, revealing sharper teeth at the side. Vlad blinked, nearly awakened. So, much to his luck, it wouldn't go away, not soon at least. "Hello, old man, long time no see." it greeted him. Vlad knitted his brows now at the oddly familiar sight, mind wrecking to put together the pieces, or why it seemed known. The outlook became clearer as he blinked a few more, helping him to perceive the details of the sight. The black hair – longer that it needed to be kept back to be out of the way – the paler skin, with the facial hair on the chin, the–

"It doesn't look like me at all, you know." the creature gestured towards the floating form.

"It does." Vlad debated, and after he saw the comparison, side by side, it became just more tormenting. "Once, I saw it, and… it was you. Daniel, I mean." his mouth twitched at the necessary correction, the difference was clenching in his heart. "Or that might have been just a dream, after all—"

"Daniel?" Vlad frowned at the suddenly recognised form. His mind couldn't make it up, not this, he came to see. Even if he was seeing it, day after day, the development, the blooming of it to its final form, but… It was real, all of what was thought-to-be imagined, was real, because he knew this form, this outlook, but not alive. For him, it was a lifeless shell, not able to be here. Valerie was right…

The blueness almost relieved glinted up to his conscious word. "Dan," the mimicked-formed creature corrected him, "I go by Dan now. What did you say? Fitting? Well… I have to admit now, it is. I would have hated to agree with you back then though." Seemingly it was in some sort of good mood, ease was seeping through the taken-on outlook, really hard to miss its beaming. At this moment, by this whole behaviour, Vlad almost could believe it wasn't just a false form, even aware it was just a copied one, based on— Or maybe it wasn't just about that…

"I have to confess I was a bit worried," the being cut into his swirling thoughts, "You were in a bad shape, and… I was afraid maybe two days would be too long for you, Jazz insisted on the weekend and— I wanted to come sooner, but… I needed time for— you know, Danny wouldn't— he wouldn't have believed me," it trailed off, marking him as if being sure the sight it was seeing was real, "I'm just glad you are still among the living, you know…" The lips curled up again. It was a nice smile. "I brought company…" It nodded backwards, somewhere towards where the other parts of his place were, his computer, the pods, everything else, and… "I hope you don't mind a bit of nostalgia." The creature chuckled funnily. "If I were you, I would avoid Jazz, she really likes to psychoanalyse people. Danny is… he is okay, I guess. I'm not saying not weird, but—"

The being suddenly shot its head to the side, like hearing something disturbing. "Damn it, I told them not to touch anything. Why I am not surprised they didn't listen to me? I bet it's—" Its posture turned alert in a flash, jumping up from the crouching position.

"Danny, wait, I don't think—" A younger female's words were heard, widening Vlad's eyes in a vague memory of recognising it. Jasmine? Then before his mind could have comprehended that for some inexplicable reason the teen girl was here – and moreover alive – a very familiar glowing figure phased through his curtain, suit black and white, floating above the ground, gloved fists glowing up with the same vibrant green as the eyes were staring ahead towards the figure next to him, ready to any action. His sister just came after the boy, a beat later appeared, like trying to stop the younger teen.

Vlad couldn't tell how fast the being had to move, but the next second, he was covered. The human-outlooked creature's hand was kept in the air, like a barrier against anything that could reach him.

"Stay away from him," the floating boy hissed, glaring at the figure strictly. "Stay away from Vlad, Dan."

The muscles strained on the mimicked human arm, eyes shifting into a warning burning red. "It's not what you think it is, Danny." It pressed every word.

"It isn't? Human substrate?!" the teen shouted out, fist glowing up with bright green ecto-energy, with an oddish icy blue halo around the edges. "The whole thing about separation was a fucking lie!"

"Danny, I don't think—" Jasmine tried, on her face, the perplexity was still present, perhaps confused to seeing him or about the quickly turned-out situation.

The young teen's words sank now. Separation. Vlad shot his eyes at the towering figure in front of him. Separation? But then… The memory, that old memory from ten years ago… It was the exact same form now, not in the pod, not— Yes, he knew that, that the last specimen was based on that once had seen mirage, a dream that he had chased, even years later, hoping that it once might be true, even if nothing about that picture was imaginable anymore, but— Daniel, Jasmine… "…in case of two teenagers…" Condolences

The human-disguised figure moved, shortening the distance between them, blocking everything from the floating counterpart, like a shield, against anything possibly harmful to him, and… Condolences… Why this word was stuck in his mind?

Taking a look at the red-haired teen, in an instant, Vlad recognised the belt around her waist. He couldn't recall its name anymore, but what he could certainly tell it meant protection against spectres, against anything with an ecto-signature, but… Separation…

Human substrate… He knew that expression, he had seen that message about the requiredelement many times on his computer, jumping up on his screen after each of his attempts to bypass somehow this part of his 'plan'. It kept coming up, because— because Daniel was dead. Yet, he was here. But… He had missed his chance back then, last week, helping the boy out instead, in the hope to alter on everything, then… but the boy should have been dead (again) not being here, not aliveCondolences…

That strange look at the almost identical floating body in his pod, as the creature had been eying it… Something had got into it, Vlad had seen in those red eyes, something like… recognition, maybe? Longing, but… Separation… So, if— but… "The whole thing about separation was a fucking lie!"

Clockwork's words played on repeat now, like echoes, reverberating in Vlad's mind again, matching those with the many disturbing details he had overlooked from years ago (counting the pictures about that event with the eerie parts nothing but a slip of his memory), and from now, a few days back, and…

It sank, all of it sank at this very moment, with enormous weight, inducing a flood of a mix of things at once: worry, confusion, the unfamiliar feeling of ease, lifting from his chest… All were let out now in an unbelieved hiccup, as it set together. It was enough loud to catch the young adult's attention too. The alert red-eyed glaring towards the floating ghost boy wasn't broken though from his reaction, nor for an ensuring glimpse, maybe he was fearing if it was broke, something would happen. The sight of the clothes underpinned everything too, it was stolen from near to the pods where Vlad had prepared those if once his 'plan' to work out, and any of the vessels would cease to exist as just lifeless bodies…

A hand moved behind the back of the tall figure, searching for something, then he managed to grab on Vlad's wrist, squeezing around it, telling without word everything. It made him pale though, colour running out of his already sickened skin, as all of Clockwork's words came back again. The tight hold was just underpinning his suspicion and fear overtook him about the soon coming happenings. In the shadow of the inevitable, at least one part calmed him: "…he will be fine". Even if eventually, but Daniel would be fine, that was a promise, Vlad saw it now. And with every other thing, he was already peaced with for a while.


A/N:

...I warned you about its length, didn't I? Okay, fair, I officially planned this to be two chapters, but lately, I restructured everything what I want to say and when and I didn't want to stretch it out to four left chapters instead of the planned three. It will be hard enough work for me to end this whole, so...

There might be some 'bits' to clear up some things - especially before chp20 - so currently I just hope you had a nice read now. I'm glad if you are somewhat relieved and happy after such a long time that I didn't forget this story. :)

Note2: soon I'll take a look at the whole story again to fix some typos, and clear up some messy sentences. Probably you won't notice anything from that, but it'll calm me down that here-and-there it is not garbage. So until then, thank you for the understanding! :) (And please keep in mind I am open to hearing corrections if you notice some - though I am doing my best to avoid those to be visible.)

Note3: please consider reading some 'bits' (BOTP - Bits Of The Past) and take a look at CMOT (Certain Moments Of Time) - especially to CMOT/7 - it'll clear up some things here (or give out some spoiler, it depends...). Of course, those are just kind suggestions. I see how things are connected, for you, it might be messy a bit - if not, then hats off! :D :)

Note4: I'll remove myself from this site, but I thought it wouldn't be fair to leave this story unfinished for the ones who are only here. So, here is the warning, you can find me under the same name - AllisonNoir on ao3. At first, of course, I'll finish the story entirely, only after that removing it. I just thought I should warn everyone before that. :)