A/N: Description... yes, I know I'm not really good at that. Makes the story seem rushed huh. So that will be one of the goals for this chapter: more description! But not too much because then it get's boring...Gah this is harder than I thought...
Not much is actually happening in this chapter. Next chapter will be interesting though...

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

School

Danny studied himself in the large mirror in his room. Black hair, untidy as always. Small silver stud in his left ear, that Sam had convinced him to be absolutely necessary to go with the black spiked wristbands. She even bought him a small silver ring to replace the stud with in a few weeks. His mother hadn't been too happy about it and Jazz.. she had laughed.

Black long sleeved shirt and black cargo pants. Sam had picked out a shirt with a large skull on it and some chains to go with the wristbands but he had refused those. No need to go overboard with the goth look, he had said, he just needed an excuse to wear the wristbands.

And of course the combat boots. He was very happy with those, they were very comfortable. And Vlad would have hated them and anything that Vlad wouldn't have liked suited him just fine. He shuddered as he realized how easily Vlad popped up in his mind. Even though he had escaped and Vlad was gone, he still held power over him, he still controlled his actions. Sweat broke out and his breathing quickened. He would never truly escape.

He took a deep breath and then looked at his boots again, violently shoving Vlad out of his thoughts. He could really kick someone to kingdom come with those. Dash had better leave him alone.

He frowned at himself. He was still skinny but at least he didn´t look so deathly pale anymore. He tried to push the scowl of his face. No need to match his expression to his clothes. Then he sighed. He was trying to make himself look normal again, to turn back time to when life wasn´t so complicated. Well, complicated, but not nearly so much as it was now.

He didn´t exist. His mother had had the hardest time getting him into school, even going as far as starting an adoption procedure for him. There were no records of him and the powers that be blatantly refused to believe that someone could get onto their computer system and erase somebody from existence. Danny knew Vlad would have had the resources to do that and he wondered how thorough he had been. After all, his only purpose had been that nobody would go looking for him.

He'd asked Tucker to do some research and he had come back with the information that yes, Vlad had a son his age, named Daniel Masters. He was on record as having been born in Madison, Wisconsin, and his mother was... Madeline Hayes. He had decided to keep that information to himself. Tucker had found no trace of one Daniel Fenton.

In the end they had done a DNA test to prove irrefutably that Danny was the son of Jack and Maddie Fenton. The results hadn't come back yet and Danny was very nervous about it, because it would also show his ghostly DNA. But he had no real argument to refuse the test, they would have been very suspicious of him if he had. And now he was going to go to school again for the first time in almost six months.

Then he thought back at the ghost fights from last week. The demons, they shouldn´t be here. He didn´t know where Vlad had gotten them from and he had never dared to ask. He wished he had now. Twice they had shown up, the first time his mother had actually helped him capture them. And then she had talked to him. It was a strange experience and he hoped that he had managed to get through to her that he really wasn't all evil.

It had also made him realize something else, something that had been bugging him all that time since he learned that Vlad had somehow erased the memories of everybody that knew him. He still didn't know how Vlad had managed to do that, but he was sure now it was a ghost that caused it and his own memory was intact because he himself was a ghost.

He felt a little uncomfortable around his mother now though. She was looking at him all the time now, watching him, having a strange expression on her face. Did she suspect something, had he let something slip during their conversation? He had managed to cover up the wounds pretty well, considering he had to do it all by himself, but he couldn´t disguise the fact that he was sore.

The door opened behind him and Jazz walked in, looking critically at the mess in his room. His bed was unmade, yesterday's clothes laid haphazardly on the floor, some of his clothes had fallen out of his closet when he had opened the door and he had been too lazy to pick them up. His desk was littered with stacks of paper, two empty soda cans and various CD's. She returned her attention to him, visibly biting back a comment on the state of his room.

"Are you done admiring yourself?" she asked, "Breakfast is ready. If you hurry up I'll give you a ride."

He smiled at her and followed her downstairs. Jazz was... Jazz. Whether she remembered him or not.

"Hi sweetie, ready for school?" his mother asked when they entered the kitchen.

"Yup," he said happily.

She looked at him suspiciously. "You sure are happy about it?" she said.

He grinned. "Never thought I'd say it but I actually missed it. Hell, I even missed Dash!"

He grabbed a bowl of cereal and sat down at the kitchen table where his mother already sat, reading some magazine. He could hear his father down in the lab, happily humming to himself while rummaging through some stuff.

"Dash doesn't remember you," Jazz said, putting some bread in the toaster, "So with some luck you won't have any problems with him."

"Dash had better not mess with me," Danny said darkly as he was eating his cereal. "And I already ran into him a few weeks back. He's spread the rumor that I'm a drug dealer and he managed to get me fired at the Nasty Burger."

His mother looked at him oddly. Danny paused his eating and looked back at her.

"Something wrong?" he asked, "I'm not a drug dealer, if that's what you're thinking. I haven't sunk that low."

His mother shook her head. "I was just wondering," she said, "Maybe people have a hard time remembering you because you are so... different from who you were before."

Danny slowly put his spoon down.

"I'm not different," he whispered, "I'm still me." He stared at his bowl, having suddenly lost his appetite.

He was sitting on the chair in front of the desk in the small office of the foster home. The sun shone through the window, lighting the old wooden desk, the swivel chair behind it and the bookshelves on the wall. Rows and rows of books were on it and on top of the books there were even more books, stacked there because there was no more room. Child psychology books, law books, photo albums, a whole row of battered Shakespeare plays, some detective novels. He knew because he had been in there numerous times already. And always for the same reason.

He had his eyes closed and concentrated on his breathing. In, count to ten, out, count to ten, in... He felt he needed to walk to do his counting, but they had put him in here and had told him to stay. The dark spot in his head threatened to overwhelm him and he clung to his counting, imagining himself walking down that deserted road again, leaving Vlad's castle. Leaving. Never coming back. He heard voices outside the door, speaking hurriedly in hushed tones. He could hear them anyway, he had very good ears.

"What do we do with him?" Mrs Jones' voice said.

"I don't know," Mr Fielding said, "We already have him talking to Dr Johnson, but he can't get through to him either. We may have to put him in a closed facility if this continues."

Danny moaned softly. They couldn't lock him up, he'd go crazy. Well, more crazy than he was now. He hadn't meant to hit Taylor like that, it was just that the boy was so annoying, always prying, asking questions. Taylor should have known better, it was his own fault, he'd asked for it... He smiled. They couldn't lock him up anyway. He pictured them standing there whispering behind the door, the overweight Mrs Jones in her flowery dress and the balding Mr Fielding in his gray suit and white socks.

The door opened and Mrs Jones and Mr Fielding stepped inside. He opened his eyes, hoping they were no longer red and watched them apprehensively as they approached him and sat down, Mr Fielding next to him and Mrs Jones at the other side of the desk. The swivel chair cracked under her weight.

"Danny," Mrs Jones said in a friendly tone, pushing her glasses back on her nose.

He looked at her warily, knowing that tone of voice. Vlad had used it whenever he was about to punish him. But these were nice people, he reminded himself, they were just totally unprepared to deal with someone like him.

"Can you explain why you hit Taylor? You broke his nose you know," she said.

"I should have broken his neck," Danny thought, but managed to keep that to himself.

He looked down at the floor. "I'm sorry Mrs Jones," he mumbled, "I didn't mean to hurt him."

Yes you did you wanted to kill him rip him apart break his neck tear his eyes out... He violently pushed that train of thought back. He had to figure out a way to get his old self back...

"Danny!" He looked up. "Hey little bro, you spaced out. Come on, we need to go."

He got up, placed his half eaten cereal in the sink and followed Jazz to her car. They drove to school in silence, Jazz seemingly lost in thought and Danny still brooding over the memory that had suddenly popped up while he was eating his breakfast. Students were already milling the long hallways when Danny and Jazz entered the school, chatting at their lockers or just generally fooling around. Danny felt a twinge of both hope and fear as he watched them. Hope to soon be one of them, fear that in reality he never could be again. He turned to Jazz, who was hovering beside him, intending to mother him.

"Go to your class," He said to her, "I know the way, you don´t have to come with me."

She nodded hesitantly, waved and then he was on his own. He went to the office to get his schedule and then walked quietly to his first period class, English from Mr Lancer. Nobody paid him any attention.

Mr Lancer looked up as he entered and got up. Most of his classmates were already there, chatting and exchanging homework. Sam and Tucker were in the back and waved at him. He waved back.

"Attention students," Mr Lancer said.

Everybody stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at him. He felt distinctly uncomfortable under their scrutiny and saw Dash´ eyes widen at the sight of him.

"We have a new student joining us. His name is Daniel Fenton. Mr Fenton, would you like to tell something about yourself?"

He was about to open his mouth when Dash spoke up. "Hi my name is Danny Fenturd and I´m a drug dealer and I can´t even hold a job at the Nasty Burger."

Danny closed his mouth again and glared at Dash.

"Mr Baxter!" Mr Lancer said angrily.

Danny leaned forward a bit and smiled nastily at Dash. "Well, you´ve summed it up hey Dash. But think about it. If I were a drug dealer I´d be very careful of what I said to me."

He was acutely aware of his steel nosed combat boots. He didn´t wait for Mr Lancer to tell him to sit, but walked right past Dash to the back of the room. Dash tried to trip him, but he managed to avoid it and smacked Dash on the head instead. He sat down next to Sam and grinned at her. She frowned at him and he gave her an innocent look.

"Mr Fenton," Mr Lancer said, "I hope you do not intend to start your first day of school in detention?"

"What did I do," Danny said indignantly and Sam punched him. He bowed his head. "No Mr Lancer. Sorry Mr Lancer," he said.

He leaned in his chair and started doodling in his notebook, tuning out the lecture.

He leaned against the wall of his prison. He couldn't sit down, his hands were chained to the wall. He couldn't go ghost either, the silvery wristbands prevented that. In his desperation he had tried though. He had reached for his ghost form through the pain, but he had been unconscious before he managed to form the white rings around his waist.

Vlad had woken him up by throwing a bucket of water over him and he had stood there, soaking wet, shivering. He stood there for three days in that small cell with it's white walls and no windows, the blinding light hurting his eyes, without sleeping. Every now and then Vlad came into his cell and helped him drink some water. He had refused his help at first, cursing him, calling him names.

When the time passed by, he started to look forward to Vlad's visits. He was always gentle, holding his head and letting him carefully sip from the glass. Then he stroked his hair or padded his shoulders, said "You're doing well my son" and then he left again.

He had tried to sleep standing up but every time he nodded off a small shock came from the wristbands and he was awake again. All thought seemed to stop. His whole body hurt and he was shaking uncontrollably.

In the end, he started hallucinating. A blond woman approached him, smiling. She looked vaguely familiar, but when he tried to remember his thoughts just shattered.

"Hello," she said.

"Where is Vlad," he rasped. He needed Vlad. It was the only coherent thought he was capable of.

She smiled and bend over, bringing her mouth close to his ear.

"He's out," she whispered, "I am Vesa."

She stroked his hair and then held up a glass of water. He looked at it longingly. She held it up against his lips and he gulped it down as fast as he could, coughing. She patted him on the back, looked at him one more time and left.

Sam looked over at her new friend when she heard a soft snapping sound. She saw Danny putting down his pencil slowly and examine his hand. To her dismay, she saw a small red cut there. He must have cut himself when he broke the pencil. He closed his eyes and moved his lips, but no sound came out. Was he counting?

She wondered if this was the way he used to be. Mrs Fenton had asked her to keep an eye on him, because he had a very short fuse and he tended to act before thinking.

"Don´t let the tough guy act fool you," Maddie had said, "He was a shy, sweet boy before."

There was nothing shy or sweet about Danny now.

So, did I overdo it? Was it any good? Should I keep this up? It sure makes the chapter longer...