The bright sunlight shone over Danny sleeping soundly. His eyes fluttered open and he began to sit up, instantly regretting it due to a sharp pain in his neck. After rubbing his eyes, Danny observed his surroundings. He was in a warm, cosy and expensive-looking room in a comfortable bed. This certainly wasn't the ghost zone he'd fallen asleep in; it was only after he saw the three dozy vultures, snoring loudly that he instantly recognised as Vlad's servants that he became suspicious.

Slowly climbing out of the bed he'd been laid in, the weakened boy quietly wondered over to the slightly open window. Pushing it open a little further, he carefully leaned out and looked around. There was no doubt about it - he was in Wisconsin; at Vlad's castle. Suddenly, he felt his ghost sense go off, he quickly spun around to find that the ghost vultures had vanished. Something most definitely wasn't right.

Danny returned to the bed and sat on it miserably. He noticed that his cell phone had been removed from his pocket and put on a small bedside table. He picked it up only to discover that he had a load of missed calls from his parents. Images flashed through his head of his parents powering up various weapons and methods of torture, ready to experiment. He felt a warm hand rest upon his shoulder, distracting him from his disturbing thoughts, and looked up to find his arch-enemy, Vlad Masters staring back at him.

There was an uneasy silence between the two, until Vlad finally broke it. "So Daniel… How are you feeling?" he asked with a look of general concern.

"I..." Danny began, pondering Vlad's true motives. "…I'm fine." Vlad could see that this was obviously a lie.

"I know something is bothering you. Your mother called and told me you were missing, and then I find you cold and unconscious in the ghost zone… tell me what's wrong." The older man demanded.

"I don't have to tell you anything!" The boy replied in a somewhat defensive tone, "And when the hell did you start caring anyway?!" Vlad stared at him unsure of how to react.

"…I saved your life; you could at least try to be a little grateful. If I didn't care at all, then why would I have even bothered?"

"Because you're a manipulative fruit loop who most likely has yet another crazy plan to get me down?" Danny answered angrily, looking away from his nemesis desperately trying to hold back his emotions. Vlad pulled a guilty expression and sighed loudly, knowing that the boy had a point. Almost every time they had met, he had been plotting something. "Fine… My parents used one of their stupid inventions, one that's supposed to trap the nearest ghost in a net and zap them…" Danny groaned, "…and of course, I was the nearest ghost. I broke the net but had to use my ghost powers… They know I'm half-ghost." He continued, lowering his head in shame. "…They know I'm Danny Phantom."

A young, innocent teenage boy accidentally mutated into the only half ghost besides himself. Living in a family of ghost hunters and desperately trying to keep his identity a secret while also struggling with the demanding troubles of daily life. Vlad thought about how hard it must be for Danny. Sure he himself had also struggled with becoming a half-breed, but was old enough to just move away from humans and live in constant isolation. Here were two half ghosts, both had suffered and were suffering, all because of one mans foolishness- Jack Fenton. Vlad bubbled up with rage at the thought of him.

"You're welcome to stay here as long as you wish. I realise you might not want to, but it's for the best at least until your fever has gone." Vlad spoke to Danny, before silently slipping out of the room and leaving the young halfa alone once again.