Chapter 11: REASONS

'Why is mom crying? Mom?'

"..." 'Why can't I talk? Mom?!' "..." 'Oh, God, is that dad on the floor? Why can't I move? Mom!' "..." 'Mom, dad, what's happening? Where are we? Mom, mom, please look at me, I'm right here, I- Grrr, Why. Can't. Move. Damn it!' "..." 'Oh, no. Mom! Someone is coming. I can hear it, mom, please, look up. I can't look around, mom. Oh God, please, please, look up, mom, please. You have to take dad and get out. Mom- Yessss!'

"Why Danny?"

'What? It wasn't me mom. I don't know how do we get here' "..." 'Damn it, damn it. Why can't I talk?'

"I have experience, my child. And the money and power from using my abilities for personal gain, you see. I could train you, teach you everything I know, and all you'd have to do is renounce your idiot father."

'Vlad? What? No! My legs, mom, they are moving on their own, it's not me mom' "Lets go dad" 'Noooo! Stoooop! Moooooom! Mooooooom! It's not me mom! it's not true! I don't-Noooooo!'

"Noo!" Danny jumped in his bed, sheets crumpled in his tight fists, cheeks damp with tears and heart rocketing in his throat.

-Knock, knock-

"Danny?! Are you alright? May I come in?" Clare sounded sickly worried.

"I...Yeah, I'm" Danny didn't know how to finish his sentence. He felt still dazed by the intensity of the dream, it had felt so frighteningly real, he needed some time to sort out what had really happened and what not.

Danny unclenched his hands from the sheets with difficulty, bringing them to his lap, he moved his fingers slowly, reveling in the way his body responded at his commands. 'I left mom and dad, I'm in Vlad's castle... But, no, It wasn't- Vlad wasn't there, we were in the lab. Dad? Was he standing or was he?...No, he was okay, he was moving and talking. I didn't betray them, did I?' Danny was distracted from his thoughts by a strong grip in his shoulder, nails digging in through the thin material of the pajamas he had found at the feets of the bed when he went to rest.

"Danny! Look at me, please" Clare was frantic.

"Ouch! Clare, I'm looking now, you can stop with the bodily harm, thank you" Danny peeled Clare's hand off his shoulder and took it in both his hands. She was slightly trembling.

"Oh thank Pariah, Danny, are you ok? What happened?" Clare wasn't trembling anymore, and now her stance was more focused and intense as if waiting for an order to give chase to a prey.

"I'm fine Clare. It was a nightmare." Saying it out loud was like lifting a heavy weight from his shoulders, so he felt the urge to repeat the statement. "Just a nightmare"

"What?" Clare incredulity and confusion was written in all her face.

"Nightmares? When humans sleep, they dream, and when-" Danny's brief explanation of human metabolism was cut short by an exasperated and anxious Clare.

"And do nightmares leaves humans with bruised marks in their heads nowdays?" Clare asked in a tone that screamed 'not in the mood for smart comments right now'.

"What?" Now was Danny the incredulous and confused.

Clare didn't humor him with a response, summoning a mirror from thin air and shoving it at Danny's hands.

Danny saw the red, circular shaped marks reflected in the mirror, right over his temples, just in time before they finished to fade.

"What- How-"

"That's my line Danny. Try to remember what was going on before I came. Are you sure that what happened was just a dream?" This time was Clare who was taking his trembling hands in a worried, but not less supportive way.

"It was a dream. I mean, it felt too real, but there were my parents there and Vlad, and I wasn't in this room. It couldn't have been real. I would never- Believe me it wasn't real." Danny finished a little rashly, remembering the dream unsettled him.

"Ok, Danny. I believe you" Clare said in a sweet tone that in any other person would sound condescending, but in her lips was reasuring. "Do you feel any pain?" Care asked while still trying to proyect calmness with her voice.

"No" Danny responded after a thoughtful check.

"Did you feel any pain during the dream?" Clare continued to ask.

"Not really. I just felt trapted. I wanted to go to my parents, I wanted to hurt Vlad... I think I still do" Danny reflected, having found the sourse of his uneasiness. After the dream, he wasn't confortable staying in Vlad's castle, he wanted to check on his parents. "I should go home" Danny said while rising, but Clare didn't let go of his hands.

"You think you should do what you felt like doing during a nightmare probably induced by a powerful creature we know nothing about" Clare deadpaned.

"I-"

"Lets wake Vlad" Clare promped before teleporting both of them to Vlad's room.

"What?! No, Clare, let go" Danny protested in a hushed cry, trying to get free from Clare's grip without waking Vlad.

"Came on, I'm sure he can help us find out what happened" Clare insisted while pulling at Danny's hands.

"No" Danny was firm in his position.

"Why are you closing your eyes?" Clare asked bewildered.

" I. don't. wanna. have. more. nightmares" Danny punctuated each word with a strong pull of his hands, getting free in the last try.

"What?" Clare asked in the same tone of before.

"What do you think you are doing in my bedroom?" Vlad cut their chat with a voice that promised great pain to come.

"Nothing!"/ "Something attacked Danny in his room!" Danny and Clare shouted in unison.

Vlad was in front of Danny before Clare could finished her sentence, probing Danny's body with his hands and getting franctically slapped in the process for his efforts. When he spoke againg, was concern what dominated his voice.

"Are you alright Daniel?"

"I'm fine. Can you let go of my face please?" Vlad's touch felt particularly more annoying after the nightmare.

Vlad took his hands off Danny's face, but didn't step back nor did the tone of his voice change. "Can you open your eyes Daniel?"

"Are you dressed?" Danny asked instead of answering.

"Yes, Daniel. Yesterday was a extremely rare occasion, not the norm, I assure you." Vlad answered seriously, letting go the chance to mock the boy.

When Danny opened his eyes, the face in front of him showed nothing but concern.

"What happened?" Vlad asked.

"Nothing!" Danny insisted, and took a step back so he could glare at Clare for he next part "There was really NO reason to teleport me to Vlad's bedroom in the middle of the night" Danny thought briefly about the necessity of practicing his death stare, faced with the utterly unperturbed face of the maid.

Vlad too zeroed his attention on her.

"Explain" Was Vlad unyielding command.

"At 4:44 am something was wrong with the house" Clare started dutifully.

"How so?" Vlad prompted her when she paused.

"I can't explain, but I couldn't feel Danny's room clearly anymore" Clare said with a pained expression, as if remembering the episode caused her physical discomfort.

"Feel my room?" Danny's echoed words were totally dismissed by the other two in the room.

"I hurried to Danny's room, but couldn't- I... It felt wrong. I knock at the door, but couldn't muster the courage to open it until the feeling disappeard" Clare's tone waved while narrating the facts. "Once I entered, there was just Danny in the room, he was awake but a little out of it, and had two bruising marks in his head that faded quickly. He just remembered having a nightmare"

Vlad took a moment to take everything in, and turned to Danny again "What do you remember about the nightmare Daniel?"

"It doesn't matter" Danny replied exasperated. Vlad was the last person in the world he would share his nightmare with.

"I think it does" Vlad's voice left no room for arguments.

"I dreamt with you, are you happy?" Danny barked out. The nightmare still too fresh in his memory. He couldn't look at Vlad without remembering the too familiar words, the wheight of his hand in his shoulder, the anguish... Danny was so caught up in his head that missed Vlad's wrecked expression.

'Of course he'll count dreaming with me as a nightmare' Vlad thought bitterly, and teleport out of the room.

"Come on" Said Clare, trying to take Danny by the elbow, but missing thanks to Danny's sharp reflexs.

"Oh no lady, if you teleport me one more time, I'm gonna puke. And where do you wanna take me anyway?" Danny went for funny, but end up sounding a bit hysterical.

"Vlad's lab" Clare said as matter of fact.

"No way I'm going there" Danny said while crossing his arms.

"Vlad's there" Clare added hopefully.

"Even worse?" Danny didn't budge.

"Ok. That's it. What's your problem?" Clare said while mirroring Danny's stance. When Danny didn't look as giving an answer anytime soon, she kept talking "Vlad's been nothing but good to you, and you alternate between threatening him with leaving, and teasing him-"

"What-" Danny cut.

"No, let me finish. And now, what? You 'Want to hurt' him?" Clare said, with air quotes and everything. She was livid. "So tell me, What's your problem? What's wrong with you?"

"What- What's wrong with me?! What's wrong with everyone else?! Everything is upside down. Nothing should have gone the way it went. I should be with my parents and my sister right now, not with the BAD GUY!" Danny practically yelled while pulling at his hair with both hands "This is all a big nightmare" Said in a much more quietly voice.

"The 'bad guy', really? And what are you, the 'good one'?" Clare pressed.

"YESS!" Danny's outburst was cut short by Vlad's suddenly appearance.

"The scanner sensed nothing in Danny's room at 4:44" Vlad stated.

"Good! All this for nothing then" Danny said while sidestepping Vlad in his way to the door, but was stop by the older halfa's vice-like grip on his arm.

"Let. Go. Right. Now. Plasmius!" Were Danny's enraged words while turning into Phantom.

Vlad released his arm, but didn't dismiss the boy. "I said the scanner sensed NOTHING Daniel! Nothing at all, in the room you were currently sleeping in!"

"Maybe the scanner is broken then, I don't care. Nothing happened, just... go back to bed, I'm leaving" Danny said and left the room, Vlad hot on his tail.

"There was nothing wrong with the scanner Daniel. Could you please stop? Where are you going?" Vlad needed his morning cofee asap and Danny wasn't in any way helping with the situation.

"I don't know, I need some air. Stop following me, fruitloop" Danny was fighting the urge to firing an ectoblast at the older halfa.

"Do you really think it's a good idea to leave, without knowing what attacked you, or if it left any lasting damage behind?" Vlad sped up and blocked the hallway, so Danny had to stop "Come on, let me run some tests on you" Said while moving as if he was going to take the younger halfa by the arm.

"Noo!" Danny shriek.

The potent ectoblast took Vlad by surprise, not giving him time to form a shield. The metalic taste of ectoblood filling his mouth was the last drop. Vlad shooted Danny, distracting him so that his invisible clon could lasso the boy with an ectoenergy rope.

"Plasmius! Free me right now or I'll wail!" Danny practically roared.

"No, you won't. I can render you unconscious before you even try. So, you are gonna calm down, or I'm gonna calm you down. Your choice Daniel" It wasn't necessary to see Vlad's face to know there wasn't much choice at all.

"You haven't changed, you haven't changed at all! I can see it now. You can act weirdly and concerned all you want, but you'll never fool me!" Danny was seeing red.

"I'm not trying to 'fool you' Daniel. I'm just trying for you to see reason" Vlad said tiredly.

"Yeah? You are trying to make me see 'your' reasons, don't you Plasmius? 'Teach me everything you know'?" Danny spat his words like venom.

"What?" Danny's dreadly familiar words left Vlad speechless. How many sleepless nights had Vlad reminiscised their first encounter, analising every wrong word, every wrong move. Vlad Master had always been a man hunted by his past, even before becoming a man, even after cesing to be one. He really could do without his little badger's help on that area.

"Well, I have some news for you Plasmius. You. Are. Not. My. Father. You've never been. And you'll NEVER will!" By the time Danny stop shouting his last sentence, his chest was heaving, but he felt as if he could breath a lot easier having washed over the words of 'dream's Danny'.

"I don't want you as my son" Vlad timid response was almost swallowed by the sound of Danny's laboured breathing.

"Probe it" Danny hurried to reply.

"How?" Kissing his little badger senseless was as good an argument as any, but Vlad had the strong suspicion that it wasn't what Daniel was aiming for.

"Let me go" Danny's voice was firm and commanding.

"Do I have to help you remember who was the one who came to me, the one who CHOSE to stay? You are talking as if I were holding you against your will. I-" Vlad was annoyed, however, underneath the annoyance, he was deeply hurt. He had tried to prepare himself for the departure of the younger halfa, but he hadn't thought for it to be so soon, or in such bad termns.

"Says the one holding the ectoropes" Danny interrupted.

"You know what I mean, Daniel" Vlad muttered, but dissipated the ectoropes anyway. "I'm-" Vlad closed his eyes and let go a deep breath. "You wanna leave, Daniel, then leave. I must have some clothes of your size so you can-"

"I bet you have clothes of my size. I'm not using it though!" Danny interrupted Vlad once again.

"The only change of clothes you have here it's filthy Daniel, at least wait for Clare to clean it, or are you gonna take off in my pijamas?" Vlad expression was totally close off, and there was no intonation in his words.

"I'll be really quick Danny, 10 minutes tops" Clare pipped in, trying to ease the mood.

"Ok" Danny had waked from his nightmare with the urgent desire to see Plasmius bleed, to crush him, but the lack of response from the older halfa has left him stuned.

"Use the grey powder for suits, and when you are over bring me coffee to the library" Commented Vlad while passing Clare in the way to his dressing room.

"Sure!" Clare responded before taking Danny by his hand and flying to the guest room.