Author's Note: All right, so...I did decide to continue this. I have even less to go on for this than I did for Disparaged, but like with Disparaged, I'm just going to wing it! :D And I will just hope that it's not completely terrible.

And if you have read Disparaged, there will be similarities in the beginning until this starts branching out more with its own distinct plot and themes.

(after being) Condemned

Was it over?

The light breaking through the cracks in his blinds was grey. A cloudy day.

Beneath his sheets, Danny felt warm and comfortable but unrested. But he had definitely slept. Definitely. Because he had dreamt. He had been dreaming something right before he awoke.

Something…

Held hostage in the dark by someone too familiar...

But that was over.

Wasn't it over?

An alarm began blaring from his bedside table. He jumped and grabbed his phone with a fumble, shakily stopping the intrusive noise.

This day was only just starting.

He grudgingly sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. His head was hazily swimming with resurfacing remnants from his dreams. Or were they memories from the night before? From just a mere six hours ago?

Six hours ago, he had been a mess. His mom definitely noticed, had made it clear to him she noticed.

And his dad? Did his dad notice?

If he did, he didn't seem to care.

Regardless, Danny knew he couldn't afford to raise any further suspicion. He had to get through this morning, had to convince his mother he was fine.

And he had to face his father, too.

His mentality ached. His grogginess ached. His body ached. A quick shower to wake him fully. An invisible trip to the medicine cabinet in the empty kitchen. Eight hundred milligrams of ibuprofen.

Back in his room, he observed the injection sites on his arm and on the back of his neck. They had swelled considerably in the past few hours, large patches of heated inflammation. He had to hide them, could not let his parents see them. He could not possibly explain them. It wasn't cool enough for him to get away with wearing a jacket, but a loose shirt with sleeves that stopped just above his elbows hid the site on his arm well. As for the one on the back of his neck, he would just have to pull at the front of his collar to keep it hidden.

He studied himself in the mirror. He looked the same as always. Even the darkness under his eyes was a familiar sight by now. Nothing about his appearance would give anything away. He just had to pull his act together, keep his emotions under control.

As he descended the stairs, he could hear the usual sounds of his family coming from the kitchen. Their normalcy was encouraging, mitigating. Last night really was over.

"Morning, sweetie," Maddie greeted him from the stove as he walked in.

"Morning," he returned.

"I'm almost done here." Maddie lowered the heat of the burner she was using. "Just give me a minute."

Danny nodded and looked over at the kitchen table. Jazz was speaking to their father cheerily, perhaps about something she had just read in the book she was holding that morning. Jack was smiling at her fondly.

Danny approached the table and pulled out a chair with a small scrape. Jack sharply turned to look at him. Danny froze, his hand gripping the top of his chair.

"Danny," said Jack, his smile completely gone.

"Hey," said Danny with fading inflection. He remained standing and waited, waited for Jack to say something more, waited for permission to join him at the table.

Maybe last night wasn't entirely over after all.

"So... Did you sleep well?" asked Jack.

"Um, yeah. Did you?"

An automatic question, reflexive, one he regretted the moment it was out, the moment his father's expression hardened.

"I definitely could've slept better if I hadn't had to go out in the middle of the night looking for you."

Danny cringed and wished one of his ghost powers was time control. Or maybe he should've kept the Reality Gauntlet. What was he even thinking when he destroyed it? He totally should've kept it for moments exactly like this. Stupid, stupid, stupid—

"Oh, uh, hey, speaking of...of that." Jazz cleared her throat and flipped through her book.

Jack's attention immediately returned to her. Danny anxiously watched Jazz, hoping for a true save from his sister.

"Speaking of, uh, sleep, lack of sleep, um…" Jazz continued turning pages at a frenzied pace. "I read about this really rare disease that, ah... It like prevents your brain from going past stage one of sleep. Or something like that. Basically, it stops you from ever being able to sleep again."

Jack cocked his head in mild intrigue. Danny took the opportunity to slowly and quietly lower himself in his seat, not even daring to scoot the chair in closer to the table.

"Yeah, so, um…" Jazz sucked her teeth as she studied a page. "Uh, I can't remember where it is, but like, um... Eventually, you die from it."

"Well, I guess that just goes to show how important sleep is," said Jack evenly.

He was looking at Jazz, but Danny could feel the words were aimed right at him. He inwardly groaned. Great save, Jazz. Just great.

"Here." Maddie began serving hot cereal to everyone. "Be careful, okay? Blow on it first."

"Thanks, Mom." Danny smiled up at her, tugged at his collar to conceal the injection site on his neck. Maddie gave his shoulder a tender squeeze, ran a hand through his hair. He softened beneath her motherly affection.

But across the table, he felt something else from his father, coldness. Jack gave Maddie a small smile as she sat beside him before placing all of his focus into his bowl.

Danny stared at him, wondered what was going on in his father's head. Their encounter last night?

Jack met his gaze and frowned at his scrutiny. Danny looked down and blew on a spoonful of cereal, trying his best to pretend he wasn't even aware of his father at all. He slipped the sufficiently cooled bite into his mouth. Bland. Tasteless. Difficult to swallow. Not even worth eating, honestly. Not like he was hungry anyway.

But he had to eat. His mother would worry if he didn't. And his father...probably wouldn't care, but he still had to act as normal as possible.

He studied what else was on the table. Sugar, milk, honey…honey would maybe make this easier to eat.

"Hey, Jazz, can you pass the—"

Jack's eyes found him again, pinned him into immobility.

"Pass what, Danny?" asked Jazz, a bite of cereal held in her cheek.

Danny leaned back in his chair and lowered his head. "Nothing," he muttered.

He wanted to turn invisible. He wanted his father to stop looking at him, stop noticing him.

Maybe he just wouldn't talk for the rest of his life.

No, that was ridiculous.

The rest of breakfast, then.

Resolved, Danny forced a spoonful of the warm cereal into his mouth and somehow managed to swallow its lack of flavor down. All in silence.

All. All of them. In silence. No one was talking. Not even Jazz who was usually so talkative in the morning and in the afternoon and at all times.

Why couldn't this be over already?

"Well." Maddie halted, blinked, opened and closed her mouth a couple times before finally speaking again. "Danny, um…"

Danny looked up at her and lowered his spoon, somewhat grateful for a reason to stop eating.

"We need to discuss what happened last night." Maddie looked at him seriously. "You know that, right?"

"Now?" asked Danny. Jack's eyes were on him again.

"No, not now," said Maddie. "After school."

Danny kept eye contact with only her.

"We'll talk about it later this afternoon and decide where to go from there," said Maddie. "Okay?"

"Okay."

"So you need to come straight home right when school ends. Jazz, please drive Danny home today."

"Of course," said Jazz.

Danny stared off to the left. "Ah, but...well, Sam kind of made me promise I would—"

Both of his parents' eyes narrowed in disapproval.

"Ah...okay." Danny blushed and inclined his head.

"And please try not to get detention today," said Jack.

"Jack," scolded Maddie.

"What? He gets detention a lot."

Danny's lips pursed. "Not that often. And I keep telling you it's because Lancer—"

"Just don't today, okay?"

Jack's intensity pushed Danny against the back of his chair.

"I just don't want to have to wait around for you to get back so we can have this discussion."

Danny said nothing for a long moment before finally nodding.

Maddie leaned over the table toward him. "You okay, Danny?"

Danny blinked and turned to her. "Hmm?"

"Is there anything you want to say now?" Maddie glanced at the clock. "Or do you want to talk now? I could take you to school for your second class later."

"No," said Danny quickly. "No, I'm fine. It's fine. After school is fine."

"You sure?"

Danny inwardly winced. Outwardly, should he smile or be stoic? What would be normal for him? He didn't know. Why didn't he know? He should know, right? Was he that out of touch with himself?

He had to answer. He had to respond. Doing nothing was definitely not something he would normally do. He at least knew that much.

Did he?

He was already doubting even that.

He chose to smile. "Yes," he said with a small lift of assurance.

Maddie studied his face closely. Danny kept his smile, kept his eyes right on her. His father was nothing but a blur beside her.

His mother at last stood and began clearing the table. "All right. You and Jazz should probably leave now, then."

"Let me help with the dishes real quick." Danny jumped up with his bowl and stacked Jazz's above it so his mother couldn't see that he had barely eaten anything.

Maddie smiled at him appreciatively. "Thank you, sweetheart."

Danny warmed, relishing the fond reaction. He reached for Jack's empty bowl.

Stopped.

Warmth faded as he tentatively raised his eyes to meet his father's.

"What?" asked Jack with a puzzled brow.

Danny's outstretched fingers twitched. "Um... Are you done? Can I take this?"

Jack shrugged and pushed the bowl toward him. Danny gripped it, stacked it on the others in his arm. He briskly turned. He could see his mother's worried expression on the edge of his vision.

"Danny?" she asked.

He headed to the sink and rinsed out all the bowls, his first. He pulled at his collar.

"Danny."

He could hear her walking toward him. He turned to face her. "Yeah, Mom?" he asked cheerfully.

She stopped just a foot away from him. He maintained his innocent poker face as her gaze roamed over him.

"We're not mad at you," she said softly. "We were only worried."

"I know," said Danny just as quietly.

"And we love you. So much."

Danny warily peered behind Maddie at Jack, who was still sitting at the kitchen table, speaking to Jazz about something.

He turned back to rinsing off the dishes.

In Jazz's car, Danny stared out the window as the scenery rushed by.

"How are you feeling?" asked Jazz.

"Fine," said Danny flatly.

Jazz hesitated. "You don't seem fine."

Danny looked at her. She only glanced at him before returning her eyes to the road.

"Was it obvious back there?"

"Yeah, it...kind of was."

Danny sighed. "Great," he muttered.

A short silence.

"So...you and Dad…" Jazz tapped the steering wheel as she thought.

Danny shrugged. "I told you Dad hates me."

"No, he doesn't."

"Then how do you explain what happened in there?"

"He was just... You know how he gets when he's mad. He gets moody and irritable."

"He was talking to you just fine."

Jazz bit her lip. "Well, because... Well, he's not mad at me."

"Has Dad ever been mad at you?"

Jazz knit her brow in thought.

"Why did I even ask that?" grumbled Danny. "You're perfect. You never do anything wrong. You've never been in trouble for anything."

"Now, no, that's not—"

"It's true," asserted Danny. "And look, I don't want to talk about this. I need to stop thinking about it." Yes, that was it. He had to lock this feeling away. "It wasn't a big deal anyway. Not the first time Dad's had me trapped like that. Not the first time he's threatened me. So whatever. This is nothing new."

"Danny, that's dangerous."

"What is?"

"It's okay to think about it. Healthy, even. You should allow yourself to process it."

"Jazz, I don't want your psychotherapy, okay?"

Jazz did not reply. Danny guiltily sighed over the snappishness of his tone with her.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I really do appreciate what you've done for me. Last night...you really helped me out." He looked forward out the window. "But I just want to forget about it. I'll just take whatever punishment Mom and Dad give me, and then I can pretend this never happened."

"You know it can't be that simple."

He knew that. Of course he knew that.

But for now, last night was over. Breakfast was over. School would eventually be over. The coming discussion with his parents would at some point also be over.

There was an end. He just had to hold out for it.