So, here it is - the first chapter!

But first, a big thank you to my new beta-reader bluedivia! Without whom this thing would be full of faults.

Enyoy^^

Disclaimer: I don't own Batman, Teen Titans, Danny Phantom or any other random pre-existing character. They belong to Butch Hartman and DC-Comics. *….sniff*

Another – Chapter 1

Aftermath

It wasn't quite as he would have had expected. He didn't feel sad or horrified by what had just happened, nor was there the feeling of loss that should follow the death of one's family and friends. Those things would probably come later, around the same time when the truth of what happened had finally sunk in.

Time moved in slow motion for him.

There were firemen rushing around, shouting orders at each other in an attempt to gain control of the chaotic situation and the raging fire that was currently burning down the local fast food restaurant. They had arrived with three fire engines not too long ago and four of them were currently attaching two water-tubes to the nearest hydrant. There was also a police car parked at the side, but the policemen themselves where nowhere to be seen, most likely taking care of the crowd that had started to form on the sidelines watching the whole thing with something between curiosity and shock.

The whole place was shrouded in orange, flickering light and it was surprisingly cold. There was a big column of black smoke rising into the sky, most likely visible for miles, and the air was full of ash that was light enough to stay afloat with only the slightest breeze carrying it. It was also rather dark so either the sun had started to set or it was very cloudy, he wasn't sure. All he knew was that it made the fire stand out even more. Somewhere in his peripheral vision Lance Thunder was already getting ready for the camera, checking his hair one last time…

Danny observed all this and yet didn't truly think about what he saw. He was just watching, storing away the pictures and impressions, his mind sometimes adding information or drawing conclusions on its own.

Soon his attention was solely focused on the fire and the way the flames cast dancing shadows on the ground. There was no steady rhythm in the way they flickered and changed size, painting pictures on the floor and being so unpredictable in their next move. It was rather fascinating, so the boy just sat there for a while, completely engrossed in the display before him and not really noticing what was going on around him anymore, the world slowly going mute.

He didn't know how long he stayed like that, getting colder and his mind growing numb, but suddenly his eyes were drawn away forcefully. Someone had grabbed his chin, turning his head into another direction. The grip wasn't hard enough to hurt, but firm enough to make it impossible for Danny to turn away again. He blinked surprised when he noticed that there was another person right in front of him, looking at him with a serious expression on his face. It was a man and the boy didn't think he had seen him ever before. He seemed to be around thirty and had short, blond hair. His mouth was moving and for a moment he wondered whether he was chewing something, before he realized that the man was talking – to him.

"-nswer?"

Danny blinked, not having caught the other's question. "…Huh?"

The man frowned, his eyebrows wrinkling and he let go of the boy's chin before speaking again. "Do you understand me?"

Danny blinked again, confused. Why did the man ask such a weird question? Of course he understood him, why shouldn't he after all?

"If you understand me, please answer." The man added and the boy just nodded in response.

The other seemed relieved by this action and pointed to Danny's shoulders as he continued talking. "Don't worry you'll be alright, my team and I will take care of you and the blanked will keep you warm for now. Can you tell me if you are hurt somewhere?"

At that the teenager dimly noted that there was some kind of golden blanked over his shoulders, even if he had no idea when or how it had gotten there. But what confused him even further were the man's words. And what team was he talking about? Who was he anyway? And why should he be hurt? He didn't feel hurt; actually he didn't really feel much of anything. He decided to tell the other person this.

Apparently that was not what the mystery man wanted to hear.

The frown on his face became more prominent again and his voice gained in seriousness. "Well, I hope it won't bother you if I still give you a short check-up" he said and not waiting for a reply he simply began looking for any kind of injury on the boy, pausing when he reached his arms. "Those are some nasty burns, second degree I'd say. Then again, I guess he can be lucky that it's just second degree."

"I'll disinfect and wrap them up right away." A second voice answered out of nowhere. And then there was another person, a young woman with a ponytail, standing next to them all of a sudden. She was searching for something in her bag and after a while she pulled out a bottle, some pads and something that reminded Danny of the plastic wrap that was normally used for food. When she noticed him staring at her she gave him a reassuring smile.

But his attention wasn't on her anymore, instead he stared at the bag she had just searched trough. It was red and on the front there was a white cross. Something clicked in his mind.

"You're doctors…" he said more to himself than to them.

The man who had just finished inspecting his abdomen looked up at that, his eyes boring into Danny's. "Yeah, we are. Or at least I am, Elli there is a paramedic" he answered. "So, can you tell me if you feel any pain?"

Danny wasn't sure why he was asked this same question again, but he decided to answer anyway. "I'm fine." But upon remembering that the doctor hadn't seemed satisfied with his answer before he added "Just a bit cold."

That was another thing the blue-eyed boy didn't fully understand. There was a giant fire just a few yards away from them and now that he thought about it, both the man and the woman were wearing T-shirts and there was a faint layer of sweat covering their faces. But even so he had the impression as if the air was growing colder by the minute and he was beginning to shiver slightly.

"You're cold?" the woman asked worriedly, looking slightly concerned. Her partner didn't comment however and quickly went on examining Danny's legs.

"Crap…" the man suddenly said and Danny looked down, curious what had caused him to curse.

He was surprised to see he was bleeding.

His trousers' legs had been pulled up and Danny could see that his whole left leg was covered in blood from mid-shin downwards. The red was in stark contrast to his white skin and the fluid glittered in the shifting lights, having already soaked his sock it was just beginning to stain his shoe the same color. There was a big gash running halfway around his leg and it seemed to be pretty deep too. Surprisingly his trousers looked fine, expect being torn on several places. There wasn't much blood on them, probably because they were so wide.

"Artery?" the paramedic asked sounding bothered by the picture his leg gave off.

"No, but it was a close one. He got lucky; if it had been the artery he would already be dead. Still, he's losing too much blood… we'll have to hook him on reserves."

"I'll get them ready. What type?"

"I don't know." The doctor answered before addressing Danny "Danny, do you know your blood type?"

The boy however didn't respond, starting to feel slightly disoriented. He didn't really understand what was going on, but all the blood was slightly unsettling. It didn't hurt, but there was this nagging feeling in the back of his mind all of a sudden. As if the sight of the red fluid and the man's words were trying to remind him of something. Something important. Something he had forgotten…

"-ybe he's in the data-base?"

"Well, he said his name was Danny Fenton, but I'm not sure if that's true. He completely zoned out after my first question and it took me five minutes to get him to respond again."

At that a small part of Danny's mind wondered when exactly he had told the man his name, but he could feel his concentration slipping again.

Blood…death…something was missing. He stared at the fire again.

"…him Type-O."

" Ok, I'll ...ambulance. We'll be able to leave soon, the … to arrive…"

He didn't hear the rest of their conversation anymore; his eyes were fixed on the flames.

Blood…death...blood…death…flames…

He was missing something.

The fire was still dancing merrily and firemen where doing their best to stop it from spreading. Sirens could be heard in the distance as more helpers were heading to the explosion-side. Somewhere a dog barked. The fire seemed a little smaller than before, water being pumped at it continuously. Most likely that was why it was getting colder and darker.

Blood…death…blood…flames…

Danny was unconscious before his head even hit the ground.

blood red eyes…flaming hair…death…dan…Dan.

To say his head felt as if it had just been smashed on the ground, trampled over by a horde of elephants and then hit with a baseball bat for good measure would be an understatement.

It had taken Danny nearly two hours to finally wake up completely from his exhaustion and drug-inducted sleep. He had been slipping in and out of consciousness at irregular intervals, unable to comprehend where he was or what was going on. As time passed his awareness came back to him though.

The first thing that he had noticed was that it was very white and that wherever he was, it was not his room. This realization was based on the hazy images his eyes had managed to give him after he had opened them for the first time, as well as the smell of the room. It was faint but the boy was sure he could make out the slightly burning stench of alcohol and cleansers. After forming the surprising coherent thought that he did not like the combination he had passed out again.

The next few times he had woken up were short and more like short flashes of his surroundings in his memory. The only time he had been awake longer than a few seconds had been when the shadow of a person had loomed over him, doing who-knows-what with one of the tubes that where dangling into his vision. He vaguely remembered himself trying to say something to the person, but couldn't remember whether he had managed it or not.

Now though he was fully awake and aware of what was happening around him. It hadn't been difficult to figure out that he was apparently in a hospital. There were medical apparatuses next to each of the three beds in the room and his arm was connected to an IV. Only one of the other two beds was occupied and the elderly man in it was watching a movie on the TV that was installed across from them, near the ceiling.

Danny had tried to get up and into a sitting position a few moments ago, but the vertigo that had hit him and the sick feeling in his stomach had stopped him from doing so. Currently he was lying just lying in his bed, holding still with his head on the pillow and trying to ignore the pounding headache that was slowly driving him insane.

Still, a part of him was glad for the pain.

It took most of his concentration to try not to think about it, so that there wasn't any room left his head for anything else. And not thinking was most likely the smartest course of action.

After all he had also tried to remember what had gotten him in his current situation before. But the feeling of dread that had spread through him had told him that doing so was probably not a good idea. Even so, a few past images still managed to sneak their way into his head. They were something between pictures and emotions and Danny guessed that with the way they had flashed into his mind he had just experienced his first-ever flashback. That was when the headache had started.

To Danny it felt like an eternity until someone finally decided to come and look for him. In reality it was only a little over ten minutes.

The nurse that had arrived seemed overjoyed to discover that he was finally awake. She was wearing purple clothes and had her shoulder long hair open to fan around her face. She looked to be in her late forties but from the gleam in her eyes and the way she carried herself she made the impression to be ten years younger. However, Danny would have preferred someone less excitable when she started talking to him in a cheerful tone as she checked him over. It was definitely not helping his head.

"…You know, it's not every day we get children that are hurt as badly as you. Not that you are hurt too bad, you'll be fine but…you know what I mean. Amity is normally relatively safe after all and so we don't get much besides the sick and minor injuries… "

The blue-eyed boy was a little confused at the casual way she was talking to him, though. Was this normal for nurses or was it just this woman? He shut his eyes in annoyance the female voice ringing uncomfortably in his head, sounding unnaturally loud. Weren't they supposed to ask him how he was feeling or something? He didn't want to listen to the woman's chattering – he wanted painkillers!

"…Sure we got the ghost attacks, but they just cause property damage. And since we don't have much crime, the real accidents happen on the streets or at work. But those cases go to Amity Central more often than not – they have the better ER."

Sadly it didn't look like she was going to stop anytime soon, so deciding that he obviously had to take the initiative Danny opened his mouth to speak. "Uh…Miss?"

God, was that his voice? It sounded so hoarse and Danny had to wonder again what exactly had happened to get him into his current state. But there were more pressing matters, namely getting the attention of the woman to his left. Obviously she hadn't heard him yet, because she continued talking without even glancing at him, fiddling around with a small bag with a clear fluid in it, brushing her dark hair out of her aging face from time to time.

"…Not that our ER isn't good! It's just not as big and doesn't have the same equipment. We are m-"

"Miss?" Danny tried again, louder this time.

This time she had heard him, but he wasn't sure if it was because of him addressing her or the coughing fit he had just gotten into after calling out for a second time.

"Oh, my! Are you alright?" she asked. He wanted to straighten himself up onto his elbows but noticed that he couldn't bend his arms. After a few moments his coughing stopped, leaving him slightly breathless.

"Headache." He answered simply. He didn't feel like using his vocal cords any more than necessary. "Can I have Pain killers? Please?"

The woman just looked down at him unhappily. "So, sorry dear, but I'm not allowed to give you any pain killers on my own. I would have to get doctor Raymond's permission first." She hesitated a moment before continuing. "But you know, I'm sure he'll allow you to get some Advil. How about I fetch both, him and the painkillers. I'm sure he'd want to talk to you anyway and I will be back soon."

Danny just mumbled his agreement, but when the woman left him, he felt irrationally abandoned. It took her nearly fifteen minutes to come back and Danny, who had simply stared at the ceiling for the time being, was starting to slowly drift off into a daze again.

However, when she re-entered the room she wasn't alone anymore and the second person drew his attention.

It was a man of average height, blond hair and steel grey eyes. By the white coat he was wearing it was obvious that he was a doctor and even if the teenager couldn't make out what was written on his nametag he guessed that this had to be the aforementioned doctor 'Raymond'. He was surprised to notice that the man seemed rather young, somewhere at the beginning of his thirties. But even more surprising and a little confusing was the feeling of familiarity he gave of.

"Hello Daniel." The man greeted. His voice wasn't full of warmth or happiness like it had been the case with his nurse, but it wasn't unkind either.

"Danny." The boy corrected automatically.

"Danny then." The man said with a slight and smile "So, it's correct to assume that your name is indeed Daniel Fenton?"

Danny just nodded.

"Good, that one's cleared then." He mumbled and took a clipboard from the end of his bed. "Well, Danny seems like you'll have to stay here for a little while longer. You got a rather deep gash on your left leg and we had to stitch it up. Also both your forearms have second-degree burns and will need future treatment. You lost quite a lot of blood and we needed get your body temperature up again, even if it's still a little low" the man trailed off for a moment, apparently not liking some of the paper's data, before picking up where he had left. "I'll let them bring you a heated blanked, that should do the trick. Aside from that you'll probably be fine, though."

Danny didn't know how to feel about the sudden onslaught of information but still tried to form a response to it. "Uh…that's…eh..." Triedbeing the keyword.

"Anything you want to add?" the doctor interrupted, ignoring his stuttering. "To the symptoms I mean."

"My head hurts and I feel sick." Danny answered automatically. The nausea was coming back too, most likely because he was straining himself by speaking to others.

"You're seeing double?"

"No…"

"Well, it's probably a small concussion. That's not unexpected. You also have lots of smaller cuts and bruises on your body, but they'll heal on their own. I'll let you have some Advil but nothing else. The nausea will have to go away on its own, but don't worry, you should already feel better by tomorrow."

Danny nodded; content with knowing he would get something for his head. His curiosity however wasn't satisfied and there was something nagging at the back of his head ever since he had laid eyes on the man.

"What happened anyway? I mean…why am I here?" he asked and the man frowned in response. Again, there was the feeling of familiarity.

"You don't remember? You have no idea why you're here?" he asked.

"No..I…no."

"Well that's not too unusual either. Short-term amnesia is something that sometimes follows traumatic events. I think it would be better to wait a little until the memory comes back on its own or at least until tomorrow. We'll talk then." The man advised and Danny could have sworn he saw the man's face tense a little at his last words. But nonetheless he was glad that his memory-loss seemed to be normal and would apparently go away in due time. A part of him had started to worry if it had anything to do with the pain in his head or if it would be permanent, so he was relieved to discover that not to be the case.

Still, Doctor Raymond had said that it was something that 'follows traumatic events' and Danny couldn't help but feel a small pang of fear and anxiety. He really wanted to know what had gotten him into the hospital, and yet, at the same time he didn't dare thinking about his situation.

The few images that his mind had managed to put together shortly after waking up were disturbing enough. They hadn't made much sense to him before and didn't do so now either. There was a lot of red and orange and yellow and he felt dizzy whenever he tried to focus on that particular memory because the colors seemed to be moving. And there was this noise. He didn't know why, but for some reason that horrible noise had burned itself into his head more than anything else.

Danny didn't know what it was, or even if it could be called 'noise' at all. Yet it was the clearest part of his memory, accompanying the pictures and emotions like the background-music in a movie. Danny thought it sounded horrible. It sounded like thunder, only louder and not as short-lived. A continuous roar that sometimes seemed to grow louder and Danny would have sworn that at those times there was something else in it, a nearly silent ticking sound.

The worst however was when the noise reached its peak, because it would suddenly change. The roaring would become clearer, more definite and all the different sounds fused into one. The result was something that sounded neither high nor deep, just loud and horrible and… powerful…

Suddenly a new wave of nausea hit him, saving him from sinking even deeper into his memories. The boy had to screw his eyes close in order to make the room stop spinning. "Fuck…" He groaned, this had to be his concussion. It wasn't that he had never had a concussion before, he did get thrown into walls on a regular basis after all and his head had gotten more than its fair share of damage, but he had never felt so sick because of it.

"You should rest." The doctor's voice suddenly said, reminding him that he wasn't alone in the room. He was still standing in front of his bed, looking down on him skeptically.

"Uh… yeah. Maybe I really should." Danny agreed halfheartedly. He had just woken up some time ago and didn't feel all that tired anymore - never mind that he had just been about to doze off before his nurse came back with Raymond - and now that his head was finally clear he didn't feel like succumbing to sleep again anytime soon.

But his doctor's stern tone didn't leave any room for discussion. "Not just maybe. You will get some sleep, it's the one thing you need most at the moment. And I don't want to hear anything about you getting out of your bed, except maybe to go to the toilet. And even then it will be best if you call a nurse, you can't use your left leg at the moment and your arms are in gauzes."

Danny just nodded his agreement at the man's words. Internally however he was already assessing the distance to the door on the far end of his room where he suspected the bathroom to be. He still had one leg to stand on and if necessary he would just hop his way to the bath, it wasn't even that far and he could use the wall as support. No need to bother a nurse.

Raymond simply looked at him for a few seconds, grey eyes serious and shoulders straight, before sighing and letting his posture drop a little. "Just don't overexert yourself, I'll be back later this day to see how you are doing. And don't let the bandages get wet."

Danny had to smile a little at that, it seemed that the guy had experience with rebellious teenagers end knew full well that he wouldn't listen to his advice. "Thank you, I promise I'll not strain myself" he said earnestly but then added as an afterthought. "Expect if some evil ghost decides to attack the hospital, because then I'd most likely have to fight him." His voice had been light, as if he was joking, but it was the truth. If his ghost sense were to go off he would still have to fight, injuries or not.

"Well, I guess we could make an exception in this case, but unless some malevolent specter deems it necessary to attack this hospital on the very day you happen to be here I want you to rest" the doctor replied with a small smile, unaware of the likeliness of such a situation occurring. "The last thing we need is your wound to reopen, so be careful not to use your left leg. You already lost enough blood and blood-reserves are something which should not be given too often, it's best for the body to produce it on its own."

"Uh...sure…" Danny answered, suddenly feeling anxious. There was something about what the man had said that bothered him. Blue eyes trailed down the sheets, staring at where his left leg would be.

"I have to take my leave now, there are other things that require my presence." The grey-eyed man said and after a slightly distracted sounding 'Bye' from his young patient, turned to leave. However, just when he reached the doorframe he hesitated for a moment before turning around one last time and adding, "If there is anything you need or if something is wrong, ask for a nurse. OK? "

There was something in the tone that the blond man had used that drew Danny's attention back on him. He felt slightly confused when the doctor didn't wait for any response this time and simply left, but couldn't shake the feeling that there had been more to his words this time. The boy didn't even know why, but he was sure his last sentence was more than a simple reminder to call for help if needed.

He didn't ponder this thought for too long though, since the brown haired woman was already moving around his bed again, this time making sure his leg was resting correctly and righting his pillow. He had all but forgotten about her when talking to his doctor and couldn't quite recall if she had stayed through their whole conversation or if she had left for some time. Seems like his concentration was slipping again…

"Well, dear. Now it's just you and me, huh?" The nurse smiled at him and handed him a glass of water.

Mathew Raymond was one of those doctors that couldn't quite tell why they had chosen their profession in the first place.

After finishing High school he had gone to college without much of a plan. Figuring that medicine was as good as any subject and having some interest in it too it had seemed like an acceptable choice. However he had never had the feeling that he had found the perfect profession for himself or that he would be satisfied by simply spending his life helping people. The money and prestige that came with the job didn't appeal to him either – mostly because he didn't earn half as much as one would expect and the whole "prestige thing" always backfired. He really hated people asking him for some kind of medical advice all the time…

Still, even if he had chosen and now practiced his job without the enthusiasm that some others showed, he never thought about quitting it. That was because surprisingly Raymond was not only one of those that didn't have a clue why they did what they did in the first place, he was also one of those that had found a reason for continuing doing it.

And in his case the reason was simple: He was good at his job.

Some might argue that one can never truly be good at something that they had no passion for, but Matthew thought otherwise. In his opinion it was exactly this lack of passion that made him a good doctor.

He was good at logical thinking in critical situations, which helped more often than not. He hardly ever rushed things and could stay calm even if one of his patients happened to have one of those feared complete-body-function-shutdowns. A situation where everything seems to go wrong and quite a lot of doctors tend to panic slightly, which led to them making faults and the patient ending up dead. He also didn't get attached to his patients emotionally or had much of a problem separating his private life from his job, which was always a good thing.

But that didn't mean that he was completely heartless and didn't care about other people. Actually he even liked a lot of his patients and got along with them quite well. It was just that he just couldn't feel overly sad or depressed over the fate of complete strangers. Ironically, though, those qualities had caused him to be put in charge of the most hopeless cases more often than his anyone else at his hospital. Those were usually the kind of patients that doctors hated the most since they reminded them that death could never be defeated and made them angry about their limited ability to help, leaving them frustrated.

He liked to see this as a testament to his ability to deal with such situations better than others, but it still annoyed him. After all, no one felt comfortable with having to repeatedly tell people that they were about to die or had to live the rest of their lives in a wheelchair. He guessed he had already seen more people break down in front of him than some doctors did in their whole career.

And that was something that Mathew felt would strain even on the coldest person's nerves. So, who could really blame him that he wasn't happy with being assigned to the boy that they had found in front of a burning building just the evening before?

Actually, at the beginning he hadn't been bothered by this at all.

After all he had been the first to find the child after the explosion. Daniel – or Danny as he called himself – had been extremely lucky. His worst wounds were the ones on his forearms, where his skin had been burnt. But even those were far from lethal. And while his leg had been bleeding badly, the cut itself hadn't been all that dangerous after all. It had been a rather clear and surprisingly clean one, and Raymond's initial worry of the boy bleeding to death had been proven unnecessary. It was only a flesh wound and even if there had been enough blood-loss to justify restoring to reserves, he would probably have survived without them too.

There wouldn't be any lasting damage and the only evidence that would remain of the events would be a little scarring on his arms and legs - to the doctor it had seemed quite refreshing to finally have a patient whom he had good news for.

He should have known better, though.

For Mathew things rarely went the way he wanted them to. Naturally a simple and nice case like that of Daniel Fenton would turn into a small fiasco…

Maybe it would have helped to think things through first. After all, there had been a lot of unresolved issues concerning the accident. Questioning the circumstances would have been a good beginning. What had caused the explosion? Why was the boy at a destroyed fast-food restaurant? Could it possibly have caused a trauma? Was there anyone else besides the brat?

How do you treat a child that just had to watch his life go up in flames? And quite literary so?

Ok, the last question was something he wouldn't have asked himself before. And he would have much preferred to leave it unasked for a little while longer. A very long little while…

But sadly he couldn't just ignore it. Not with the two men in uniform standing right in front of him, trying to pressure him into letting them see his newest patient and blocking his way to the cafeteria.

"For the fifth time: No." Raymond said sounding exasperated. "You can't see him right now. He just woke up and it would be completely irresponsible of me to let you in now."

"He's the only witness that we have." One of the policemen argued. "If something like this happens it's best to question people as soon as possible, memories tend to get hazy over time."

"We already went over this" the doctor replied, his annoyance growing with every passing second. He normally believed himself to be a patient person, but the duo had been pressing him to let them interrogate Danny for the last twenty-five minutes. Twenty-five minutes that usually belonged to his lunch break, the only time of the day when he could get himself some caffeine. And he really didn't like being denied his coffee…

"As did we!" exclaimed the man, sounding highly aggravated himself. The other policeman, older than the first one and wearing a moustache, shot his partner a displeased look at his small outburst. But the younger man wasn't done yet and continued with the same angry voice. "You do realize that you are getting in the way of our investigation? We're the policeand you are currently hindering our work. You could get into serious trouble for this."

Raymond nearly rolled his eyes at the smugness and superiority in the other's voice. It really was the same in every profession that had a certain reputation coming with it. People always seemed to believe that it gave them some sorts of special rights just because they carried a badge - or a white coat in the case of doctors. He himself was well versed in those small power-games since he indulged in them on a daily basis – it was unbelievable how much of a social war the life in a hospital could be. Many tried to get their points across by using their profession or position in the hospital as footing for their argumentation. It was ridiculous.

"Do you realize that you are hindering mywork?" the blond man asked back, purposefully keeping his voice calm and leveled. "And since I am a doctor that means you are not just getting in the way of my job, but also of my patient's recovery. You have no right to demand being given access to his room, so you'll have to wait as long as I see fit."

The young policeman opened his mouth, ready to start a verbal fight with the man, but was interrupted by the older one. "Sorry Doc," he began, his voice so raspy that Raymond was relatively sure the man had already had more than his fair share of cigarettes in his life, "But thing is, if you don' let us in we'll have to report this back and then it will eventually end up being some judge's decision. I'm really not into all this bureaucratic **, so can't we just reach an agreement?"

Matthew's grey eyes scrutinized the man closely. Opposite to his partner he seemed reasonable enough and didn't have the same air of arrogance about him, but rather one of calmness that could easily be confused with boredom. He sighed, personally he would prefer coming to an agreement too, but sadly it wasn't that simple.

"See, I'd like to make this easy for you but there are some complications," he said honestly "I might not be the hospital's psychologist, but it's still my job to consider my patients mental health as well…"

He had trailed off at the end of the sentence; it wasn't necessary to add more to it in order for the message to be clear.

The older man's face darkened and he suddenly seemed a lot more uncomfortable. "We are aware of the problems concerning the boy's mental stability and also of the implications of the accident."

"I'm sure you are. After all your partners probably informed you of the nature of this case." Raymond commented, sounding a little bitter. He hadn't planned for his voice to carry that tidbit of emotion but he still vividly remembered the first set of cops that had shown up at the hospital earlier that day. They had actually been the ones to deliver the very information that had turned his newest patient's case into a mess he didn't want to deal with.

It had all started out with the usual bureaucratic hell that occurred when a hospital took in a patient with an unknown identity.

They had to try and find out whom it actually was they were treating. This could often become a long and annoying procedure, especially if they had no name or whatsoever to go with. In that regard they had been quite lucky with the boy since he had been able to at least tell him that his name was Danny Fenton. And it really wasn't that hard to guess that Danny was probably just a nickname for Daniel.

So after just a few hours they had a name to go with the face. Actually not a bad start, but that was where the whole trouble started.

Seeing that the boy was just that – a boy, the hospital naturally had to find his parents or whatever person was in charge of him. Upon finding out that he lived with his family, they had tried at contacting the Fentons several times, but until now their calls had not been answered.

The hospital simply had to assume that his parents weren't home at the moment, whether they were gone for long or not had yet to be seen. Leaving messages and they had continued trying to get into contact with them, was truly the only thing they could do at the moment.

However, the Fenton's weren't the only ones that had to be informed about the boy's whereabouts. The police also played a part in it, after all Danny had not only been accepted into the hospital as an underage John Doe but had also had been found at the scene of an accident. And not just any accident either but rather a highly suspicious one. After all, even in Amity Park with all its ghost attacks it didn't happen every day that a whole building got blown up.

Apparently the police had already started with their investigation concerning the explosion. It had been only this morning that they had sent two of their men to the hospital to inform them of certain details. They had kept silent about the specific circumstances of what had happened, but seeing that the hospital had been unable to contact the Fentons thus far had deemed it necessary to tell them about a few of their findings.

Namely the possible demise of the boy's family.

According to them, the Nasty Burger had been temporarily shut down due to the destruction that had been caused by a fight between two ghosts, one of them the infamous Phantom. Because of that there shouldn't have been any people present and the restaurant's private parking lot should have been empty. Yet this had not been the case. The fact that they had found an injured person at the scene was proof that there had been at least one person present and also several cars had been parked on the grounds.

Of course the police had checked those out at once, simply finding the owners to the cars through their license plates. It soon became apparent that most of the cars belonged to people either living or working in the vicinity of the restaurant. None of who had been nears the Nasty Burger when it was blown up.

However, there had also been two cars whose owners did not fall into the group of people that had would have used the parking lot out of convenience. A small old Ford and a rather weird looking SUV had woken the police's suspicion. Both of them belonged to persons living at least three miles away and it had seemed as if the SUV was even carrying a few weapons.

Since it was still unclear what had caused the explosion in the first place and the possibility of a crime could not be ignored. Both the vehicles respective owners, Lancer and Fenton, were listed in the police files as possible. After their first course of action of contacting either of them by telephone failed, the police sent a few of their men to make two short house-visits. They had found both of the houses to be empty, even though the information they had gathered about the family and single-man had shown that neither of them would be at work at this time. Or at least Lancer, a teacher, wouldn't. The Fentons, who apparently were a pair of ghost hunters, were a bit of a wild card in that context.

They had started to investigate in this matter a little more, trying to figure out the reason why they had found two automobiles so far away from where their owners lived.

All of this had still been done on the day of the accident. But a new, critical piece of information had been delivered to the local police station only on the early morning following the event. They had confirmed the identity of the person they had found injured on the scene – Daniel Fenton.

Until then the seeming disappearance of the boy's family had left the impression of a criminals going into hiding and the only reason the case hadn't been treated that way was because there hadn't been any evidence of a crime yet.

But knowing that a member of the very family they were looking for had been near enough to the explosion to get more than just a few scratches brought a new perspective to things.

It was only then that they finally contemplated the possibility of them having been caught up in the fire.

With this idea in mind the police found quite a lot of evidence pointing towards that possibility in an admirably short amount of time.

The teacher whose current location was also unknown had apparently been teaching at the same school the Fenton's children went to, having both of them in one of his classes. It was to be assumed that the man had wanted to talk to the parents of his students and that they had, for whatever reason, chosen the fast food restaurant as their meeting-point.

This theory had been inspired and supported by various school records that pointed the youngest Fenton out as a troublemaker and showed his sister's position as honor-student quite clearly. Both were the types of student that brought frequent teacher-parents talk with them, even if those were probably quite different in nature.

Still, nothing was confirmed yet and Amity's law enforcers had yet to talk to Mr. Lancer's colleagues whether they knew something about the man having such an appointment. In the end theories wouldn't get them anywhere anyway, not without proof.

And in a case like this there were really only two ways to proof the theory.

Either one of the teams of governmental employed scientists, that would later scan the scene for anything useful, found the remains of their bodies, thus making it possible for them to back up their ideas with the genetic-makeup of the samples.

"Or they would need to find a witness."

And it was exactly that thought-process that currently had a certain caffeine-deprived doctor annoyed to no end…

When Danny awoke in the hospital-bed for a second time only a little more than two hours had passed since he had fallen asleep.

But even so, he could already tell the difference between his first awaking and this one quite clearly. Back then he had felt incredibly groggy and unable to focus with a major headache. Now however his head was clearer and he didn't even feel all that tired anymore. He wished he did though.

Because unlike before it wasn't just his head anymore that hurt. Now it was everything.

His whole body was sore, to the point where the slightest movement could cause great discomfort. The skin beneath his bandages on leg and arms was beginning to tingle uncomfortably and he wouldn't be surprised if he had a few good bruises forming on his body.

"And of course now I have to go to the toilet."

It was stupid, really. The last thing he wanted to do right now was to get up and walk around, but Danny guessed it was just his luck when it came to timing.

Momentary he was alone in the room. The old man that shared it with him hadn't been present when Danny had woken up. His bed was empty but unmade with some of personal belongings still on the small nightstand next to it, implying he would probably come back sooner or later.

Deciding to use the situation to his advantage the boy struggled to get out of bed on his own. He knew he should probably ask for help, especially since his doctor had told him to do exactly that should he want to leave the bed. Still, Danny didn't really want to do so. Partially because it would be somewhat mortifying for him and he would rather keep this bit of independence for a little longer, but also because he felt quite content to be alone right now.

Not that he thought it to be necessary anyway.

"Shit." He hissed after trying and failing to get his torso in an upward position for the third time. Letting his head sink back onto his pillow he stared at the ceiling sullenly. The bandages on his arm were thick and slightly different than the ones he normally used to gauze-dress himself up. While the one on his right arm stopped right below the elbow, his left arm was wrapped up to the middle of his upper arm, rendering it unable to move.

Since he couldn't really use his arms for support he had to relay on both his momentum and muscle strength to get up, which was simpler said than done with the state he was in.

But when he finally managed his task after the fourth try, he had to keep himself from groaning as the pain in his body was joined by another wave of nausea and he nearly collapsed right back on the mattress.

"Right, concussion…" he mumbled to himself, screwing his eyes shut.

This time it took longer for the feeling to ebb away again, and when it finally did Danny was only glad that he hadn't eaten anything lately and thus had been able to keep himself from throwing up all over the floor, or if he was unlucky, his bed.

Danny took a few deep breaths in order to get rid of the last rests of dizziness still lingering in his head, before starting to heave himself out of the bed. It took a lot fumbling around and wrestling with the bed sheets, but eventually he managed to stand up using the wall next t his bed as support.

Slowly he started to make his way over to the bathroom on wobbly legs.

It took Danny longer than estimated to reach his destination. Since he couldn't put much weight on his left leg without receiving a stab of pain in return, he was forced to lean against the wall to stabilize himself and had to practically hop the whole way on his right leg. Latter was something his body didn't take too kindly either.

When the boy finally reached the door he grabbed the handle with a relieved sigh, turning it around. The bathroom on the other side was small, yet still bigger than Danny expected. His blue eyes scanned it for a moment, taking in everything from the white tiles and the lack of a window, to the handles on the wall, which Danny had to admit he was quite grateful for. Apparently the room had been designed in such a fashion that someone in a wheelchair could move around easily and even the sink was a little lower than was normal in order to make it simpler to reach.

Five minutes later Danny was just about to leave and go back to bed after washing his hands, when something stopped him in his tracks.

It was just a glimpse. That obligatory look into the mirror, more out of habit than real interest in appearance. But even so, Danny had still seen his reflection, even if only for a second, and couldn't help the shock that spread through his body.

He was pale and his hair was messier than usual, sticking out in all kinds of directions. There were heavy bags under his eyes, but even that was a common occurrence with the boy since he never got enough sleep. What stood out however was the dark purplish bruise that was now framing his left eye. It started around the height of his eyebrow and went all the way down to his cheekbone, where his skin was grazed. Just like his face, the rest of his body was also covered in cuts and bruises, at least as far as he could tell from the bit of skin that showed through.

Slightly unnerved with his reflection Danny's right hand nervously fiddled with the rim of his oversized hospital-grown, that he only just now noticed he was wearing and really didn't want to know how he had gotten into.

It wasn't that he didn't know what it was like to find himself looking battered - by now he was even somewhat used to it-even if he hardly ever looked the way he did right now. His fast healing would normally keep him from bruising up too badly and his smaller injuries were mostly gone in a few hours. But even so, he had already had more than his faire share of cuts and bruises.

But now, just looking in the mirror made his stomach flutter unpleasantly.

"What happened?"

The question automatically sprung up in his mind. He dimly remembered asking the doctor from earlier that very same one, without receiving much of an answer in return. He hadn't really insisted on getting an answer either, something that was unusual for him, so the subject had been dropped quickly.

Now that he thought about it, he had to admit he had been more out of it than he had cared to acknowledge back then. In retrospect his mind had still been rather fuzzy compared to now and he hadn't cared about his situation all that much.

Frowning slightly Danny looked down at the bandages covering his arms, racking his memory for any clue as to what had happened.

Apparently he had been hurt badly. "A ghost fight, maybe?"

It was the most logical explanation he could come up with. So how had he gotten in the hospital? Maybe he had passed out afterwards, someone finding him and calling an ambulance? It was possible at the very least.

Danny purposefully ignored the little voice in his head that asked what would happen if said person had seen him change forms. Or if maybe the hospital had discovered anything unusual about him. He was sure if that were the case he would have found himself in quite a different position by now.

"Probably chained to a chair, with a lot of crazy scientists ready to dissect me…"he thought dryly. It wasn't even as if normal hospitals had the necessary equipment to detect the ectoplasm that had somehow fused with his DNA. And even they had, they would just run standard test on him, no reason to worry needlessly.

Still, that didn't explain what had gotten him in his current state. Danny scrunched his face, trying to remember anything useful.

It was nearly the same as before, dancing colors, weird sounds and a feeling of dread settling in the bottom of his stomach. Everything was hazy, blurred and not making much sense, but for a moment the faces of his friends and family flashed into his mind. They looked scared.

Danny could feel the nausea returning.

The colors in his head swirled more by the second and suddenly the bathroom was tagging along. Danny was barely able to steady himself by grabbing the sink, the bandages making it hard for him to move his arms. Under which he had burns. Had there been a fire?

And why wasn't his family here when the doctor had apparently known who he was?

Danny took a deep breath, trying to calm down the sudden panic that flooded his mind.

Where was his family?

His grip on the sink was slipping a little and he had to extend his other hand to the wall to stop from falling to the floor when the room swayed to the left. Calm down, and take a deep breath. Why aren't they here?

They had looked so scared. Of course.

The boy took another breath, practically hearing the blood pumping through his veins. He couldn't remember, he didn't know what happened. But they had known, and that was why they were scared.

There had been fire afterwards.

They had known what would happen.

Another deep breath his hold slipped. They had known. He was missing something.

They had known they would die.

Fire.

"Which is exactly why we need to talk to the boy." the man finally finished his lengthy explanation of why it was so important for them to be given access to his patient at once, causing Raymond's thoughts to snap back to his current predicament and out of their contemplative state.

The young doctor sighed.

His break was nearly over and he had yet to find a way to escape the clutches of the two policemen. The older one of the two had left the scene only moments ago, to answer a phone-call, and so his younger colleague had decided jump into a full-blown speech.

"That's great and all…" Raymond finally responded, glancing at his watch. Only twelve minutes left. Great. "But it doesn't change anything. He isn't yet stable enough and if you want to talk to him you either wait a little longer or come back with a warrant or something."

Maybe he could pretend that there was some kind of emergency and get away from here before his break was fully over? All he had to do was to activate his pager and then flee in one of the hospital's 'doctors only' areas. There might still be time for at least a coffee if nothing else.

"Didn't you listen to what I just said?" the younger of the two responded irascibly. Raymond guessed him to be in his early twenties and apparently not very good with authorities. He rather pitied his partner. "It is-"

"I did listen." That was a lie. "But like I said, it doesn't change anything." He had tried to make his tone definite to show that he was done with the discussion, but from what he had seen from the other so far it was probably no use.

The other opened his mouth to retort yet again and the doctors fingers were coming closer to the little grey device momentary tucked in his right pocket. But both of them were stopped in mid-action by a third voice.

"Leave him alone, Rob." The older policeman's voice interrupted them.

He had apparently finished his call and Mathew was quite thankful for that. He was obviously the mature one of the two and maybe he could reason with to at least come back a little bit later. But when the man walked up to them there was something in his face that didn't please the doctor at all. His brows were drawn together and his jaw was set in a straight line, his expression a lot more serious than before and even a little sickly.

Apparently his partner noticed this too. "What's wrong? What was that call all about?"

The older man sighed. "Headquarters. They found evidence that someone got killed by that explosion."

For a moment Raymond couldn't help but stare at the other, before what he said truly clicked in. "Evidence? What do you mean with that? The only possibly evidence would be…" he trailed of, understanding why the other looked as if he was unwell.

"Body-parts" the man confirmed. "They used dogs to speed the search up."

Raymond scrunched up his nose a little at the mental image. He might be a doctor and thus used to blood, death and the like, but having a human body torn to shreds was still not something he wanted to see. He really didn't envy whoever found the 'evidence' and for a moment he felt unusually thankful to work in a hospital and not in the pathology department of the police.

"Wait a second," said the younger policeman Rob was it? "I thought they got burned, how could you still find their bodies? And didn't the firemen say that they would need at least another day to get the flames out?"

The older cop looked at his partner for a moment, who didn't seem all too perturbed by the news, before letting out yet another sight and started to explain.

"That's why I said parts. They didn't exactly burn to death after all, they were torn apart by the explosion. The shockwave hurled some pieces far enough away so that they were mostly safe from the flames."

"Ugh, that's disgusting" Rob interrupted and for once Raymond agreed with him.

"Well, there are certainly better ways to die." The man agreed in a roundabout way. "And about the fire, seems like it suddenly started diminishing quite quickly. They suspect that there must have been some kind of substance that the fire had driven on. That's why once it was used up the flames were quick to die. But they don't know for sure yet."

It was quiet for a few moments, before Raymond asked the question to which he dreaded the answer the most. "So… the boy's parents?"

"Nothing is sure yet, they still have to run test and for all we know it could have been anyone. They are not even sure if the tests work, apparently whatever they found had been fused with molten metal or something…" The man replied, trailing of at the last part for a few seconds, before looking back at the doctor adding, " I can't say anything official yet, but it's likely that they are dead."

"And that he most likely watched them die." The doctor mentally concluded. "I just hope the boy won't remember what happened anytime soon."

At that moment his pager went off.

That was the first chapter and I roughly want to keep my others around this length too.

I hoped it was ok. I'm not too satisfied with it, but I just can't do it better yet. Still, I'll work on it.^^

It's a bit of a cliché start, isn't it? But, well it's where I wanted (and needed) my story to begin. Anyway, reviews and critique are naturally welcomed. I hope you guys liked the chapter, even if there wasn't much happening yet.

Also, it may take me a few more chapters before the crossover starts, so some of you have to be patient with me. But enough from me, I better go finish the PL chapter, I'm always so damn late…T_T

Reviews: (if you don't lock in I usually answer them at the end of a chap, ok?)

Truefortune: Well, here is he update, thanx for reviewing^^

criscabverizon: Sorry to say, but I can never really tell when I'm going to update next. It pretty much depends on school and other real-life factors. But thank you for reviewing too.

Sin - NaMe: Your pm is disabled so I'm going to answer here too^^ First of all: Thanx for the comment to you too! Must be difficult to find a beta that can do spanish, I'm just learning the language and have to admit it gives me more trouble than english. But it's cool that you write in that language and you really should continue doing so. Maybe one day, when I'm good enough in the language, I can read you stories^^

Greetings,

and Happy Easter to you all!

DA