Catalyst: A Story about Change

Chapter 16: Reunions

There it was, as though it had never even gone. Its solidity mocked him, as though an entire building, an entire island could simply disappear for months, then pop back into existence when its master felt so inclined.

It hadn't really gone, of course. This place wasn't grounded in time like others were. It could travel a few hundred years away, instead of miles, and pop back instantaneously.

Danny continued to float a few hundred yards away from the strange island that was Clockwork's home, eyes glazed over from having stared at the somehow offensive place for several minutes now. Somewhere in his mind, he had known he'd find it here, but this was a tiny thought, one he was hardly conscious of thinking. But Danny had known that this was the only place he could get any answers, that Clockwork was the only person who could tell him why things had happened the way they had. Why his other self was loose, why the Time Master had allowed him to go after Sam. The hope that maybe, somehow, there was an explanation, some reason that he couldn't have stopped the monster from escaping.

On some level, he almost hoped he'd find the Time Master dead, or as close as he could get to it, or somehow trapped, incapacitated. It would confirm that everything that monster had said was a lie, and would justify everything he himself had done…

Danny moved forward again, his dark thoughts mirroring the dark, lifeless space. It was a cold place. Strange mechanisms were built into the enormous building, and the clock faces, the intricate machinery, even the walls and the floors, everything, were all in the cold, dead colors of the ghost zone, giving the place its own unique chill.

Of course, everything in the ghost zone had something fundamentally wrong with it. That's just how the place worked. It was a deranged world for people who, on the whole, were equally deranged. But somehow, he'd never been bothered by the strangeness so much before, at least not in this particular place. Clockwork had been a friend, an infrequent but trusted advisor, ever since the fight with his other self.

Danny's mind backtracked suddenly; the fight from several years ago, of course, not the fight from a few days ago. You couldn't call that a fight. Usually both people were trying to attack... Danny swallowed, grimacing, and quickly shunted whatever stupid emotion he was feeling away, and though he refused to analyze it, that feeling couldn't possibly be guilt. Maybe he'd done a few things he wasn't proud of, but he'd been pushed. He'd been pushed hard.

A miserable frown settled on his face. Nine months looking for Sam! Nine months worrying, wondering, being depressed, and lonely, and angry, and a thousand other horrible things, and then he'd found her, only to have all his hopes and dreams smashed in front of him again. It was like some sort of sick cosmic joke.

He deserved answers. If Clockwork really was alive, then how had it happened? Why had he let him out, when he'd promised, he promised…! He'd said things would be alright, hadn't he? How was this all right!

Danny shook himself out of his thoughts, and realized that he'd come to a stop in mid-air, fists clenched and jaw tight. He dropped his arms, forcing himself to relax, though he couldn't stop the angry twitch under his left eye. He continued forward, thoughts drifting back over the past few days as he went.

He'd flown aimlessly for hours and hours after the fight, and then he'd realized there was really only one place to be, that there was only one person who would have any answers for him. Danny hadn't set off for the ghost zone immediately, though. He'd made a very short stop back at Sam's apartment, to leave a note telling them to go back without him, that he'd get back on his own. The note had said that his future self was beaten and wouldn't be showing his face for a long while, so no worries. He'd left the note in Tucker's lap and had taken off, invisible and intangible, before understanding had had a chance to register on Tucker's face.

And now here he was, after having flown back home to use the ghost portal, tired and a little neurotic from lack of rest or food. Not that it mattered right now. His human form wouldn't be happy with him when he changed back, but his ghost form could handle the unusual wear and tear for a little longer, long enough to get some answers.

He reached Clockwork's inner sanctuary, or at least as far in as Danny had ever gone. The gateway to anytime and anyplace stared at him from across the large clock filled room. The rack filled with time medallions was off to the side. Clockwork was nowhere to be seen. Danny landed and walked toward the strange time portal, his eyes wandering aimlessly around the room, but as he drew near his gaze focused in on the powerful device, taking in the silent moving pictures.

It was like a movie, an old black and white one without any sound, except there was color, of course, and the scenes were more vibrant and clear than even the best super high definition plasma TV. Danny felt his jaw clench a little as a thought occurred to him. Is that what Clockwork thought his life was? Some kind of movie, and they were all pawns to be thrown anywhere he pleased? All the times he'd talked to Clockwork were coming back to him now, along with the confrontations he'd had before he'd realized that Clockwork was on his side…

But when had he ever told him he was on his side? He'd only said "Things were how they were supposed to be" and other meaningless crap like that! That could mean anything! Things were how Clockwork wanted them to be, or maybe things were good for most people, which didn't necessarily include Danny or his family.

Somehow this thought made him more nervous than angry. He'd spent so much time being angry lately, that the emotion could only fizzle where it had once burned. All his emotions were like that right now. All the lighter emotions were practically absent, and the negative emotions were faint, damp and twisted; painful echoes of what he'd felt before. The last few days had been predominated by a hollow sadness coupled with the driving need to find some truth, some sort of explanation for all the madness. Danny knew this dull, comparatively peaceful state, which was only occasionally punctualized by a stronger emotion, wouldn't last. His mind was just putting off dealing with everything, and had gone into energy conservation mode while his subconscious whittled away at all the huge emotional shocks he'd been through lately.

This relative lack of emotion was good, though. It gave him the focus to get questions answered, without all the overpowering impulses getting in the way. Danny turned away from the Master of Time's personal silver screen, moving in a slow circle, and called out.

"Clockwor…!" Lo and behold, there he was, only meters behind him, watching silently! Danny closed his mouth; obviously the time master was alive after all. "How long have you been…," he narrowed his eyes, "floating over there?" He crossed his arms, even as his jaw clenched again. Maybe he did have a little anger left.

"Not long." Clockwork stayed where he was, strangely still. The ghost sounded calm as always, though the subtle impishness Danny sometimes thought he could hear in his voice seemed absent.

"You let him out."

"Yes." Silence stretched between them as Danny took in his answer. His confession. Yet Clockwork didn't look upset, or embarrassed, or…sad or sorry, or anything! It was infuriating.

He started over. "You…let him out. And he went and…," if he'd been human at the moment his face would have been turning red, "he forced himself on my best friend. But you only stepped in when he came over to tell me about it!" He ran his hands through his hair, amazed that somehow instead of fiery anger his strongest emotion was a deep wounded anguish. He wanted to shout "How could you?" but he had the horrible feeling that it would have no effect.

"Then…then you let him out again! And where does he go? Back to Sam!" Danny's eyes widened. Wait a second. "How did he even find her, Clockwork? Did you lead him there? Did you set this up?" A horrible thought occurred to him, clawing and chewing at the open hole where his heart used to be. "Did you…did you watch what he did, Clockwork? Did you watch him when he…? You didn't stop him; you just looked through your little mirror…" Danny buried his hands in his face, his throat clenching and unclenching with mortification, and tried to hold back the tears suddenly springing up. He was horrified. He had been betrayed. In a way it was worse than the anger he'd felt for his other self. It went deeper. He'd trusted Clockwork.

"Tell me I'm wrong," he mumbled, his voice sounding like he'd suddenly caught a head cold. "Tell me you didn't let that happen. Tell me he attacked you, knocked you out…anything, except…" But Danny knew that he wouldn't. Even if he had been knocked out, he could have rewound time, gone back to before his other self had even escaped. Faster than fast, isn't that what he was?And then the words that he really wanted to say were finally ripped out of him. "How could you! How could you do this to me? To her?" I thought you cared! I thought you were on my side!

Clockwork didn't answer, though for the first time he might have looked just a little sad. That wasn't enough, though. "Answer me! I deserve to know what the hell kind of sick game you are playing at? We are not chess pieces, damn it! We're human beings!" Danny finally walked forward, placing himself only a few feet away from the other ghost, in the vague hope of intimidating him. He waited, fists unconsciously clenched, hoping to hear something that would make sense of things, some explanation, anything…

Clockwork took his furious stare head on, never wavering. And Danny found himself searching Clockwork's face for something to prove that he was wrong: for guilt, for anger, or regret. But he only found a subtle sadness submerged under the calmness that the ghost always seemed to drape around himself like a cloak. And Danny couldn't stop the thought as their gazes remained locked, one wild-eyed and desperate, the other eerily calm: How long had this ghost existed to have reached this level of calmness?

After a moment Danny felt something else rise through his confused mind, through the horrible feeling of betrayal; a feeble hope. Perhaps, if Clockwork was so calm, there really was something Danny wasn't getting, something that would make everything right again?

The calmness was almost entrancing, and that combined with the powerful sense of purpose and confidence the Master of Time exuded seemed to slow Danny down, coaxing his teeth to unclench slightly and his hands to relax. Somehow, without even speaking, Clockwork had calmed him down. And his eyes told him that Danny could ask questions, but that he couldn't demand answers, and shouldn't try.

A few more moments of silence passed, and then the Time Master spoke, "I see many things, Danny, many possible futures, many possible pasts. I see small details, as well as huge sweeping historical panoramas. Time is a tapestry shimmering and shifting with what-ifs, whens and maybes; might-have-been actions affecting may-have-been futures. There are darker and lighter paths, which can color the different parts of the tapestry pristine blue, or blood red, depending on how different details are changed.

"I am charged with observing, but also assimilating and understanding what I see, and, every so often, acting on what I see. The observers hate to admit it, but I am a step above them, that infinite, most important step above, as I always have been and always will be." Clockwork paused, and then slowly floated over to the time portal. "A time line is a contradiction in terms, Danny, an oxymoron. In any given moment, things could go thousands of different ways for any given individual. When taking in the entire world, there are an infinite number of possible futures and pasts. Some of these possibilities are very strong; they call out to me. Others are faint, like mere phantasms floating in my subconscious mind. I don't make them, but I can reach out and quietly nudge one into the spotlight. I can choose from a handful of the most powerful possibilities, the most positive, Danny, and one of those will be the one which comes into being.

"It's a subtle thing. I won't pretend it doesn't have some similarities to a chess game. It does. In a way it exercises very similar parts of the mind, provided you have a mind that is many, many times larger than any human's. This isn't a game, however, and life can't be handled in a purely cold, surgical, or objective manner. This is where I differ from the Observers, Danny. I have a sense of intuition that guides my hand, and ultimately I am much more connected to the world and to the people in it. And sometimes that connection is to individuals, and their families and friends, when that person or people shine strongly enough in the changing kaleidoscope of the future." He stopped, looking at Danny meaningfully. "You, Danny. Your family. Your friends. You are one of those people that shape history. And so I have taken incredible care, searching, twisting and turning time to find the best solution, the best outcome, and…"

"Pain and suffering are good things, then? That's going to make the world a better place?" Danny felt his mouth twisting as the pain surfaced.

"As compared to what, Danny? The loss of your family and friends?" There was a tense pause as Danny remembered back to a few years ago, how he'd felt when he thought that he'd lost them all, if only for a split second. But still, this wasn't the same situation!

Clockwork went on. "Perhaps the death of one would be preferable to the temporary suffering of another? Jazz could've died instead."

Something tore loose deep inside of Danny. "Are you threatening me? Are you telling me to go away or you 'll make things worse?" His hands bunched back into fists as he spoke, his voice a hiss of outrage.

"Of course not." Clockwork's voice harbored no room for doubt. It was firm, and admonishing. He softened a moment later. "Of course not, Danny. But I only have so many threads to work with, so many possibilities to choose from. Only a handful are truly strong futures; the rest flitter away in an exponentially expanding radius of unlikelihood. I nudge, I don't bulldoze. Some things, in the long run, have to happen. I am forced to choose a balance between what is best for the many, and best for the few. I wish pain on no one. It is my duty to guide and encourage the future to unfold into as much beautiful blue, and as little blood red, as I possibly can. I was simply telling you of my job, and that there were choices, other possibilities, that had presented themselves to me in this case."

Danny's voice was angry and desperate. "So you chose this, because somehow everything would be wonderful somewhere down the road? You couldn't just leave him in the thermos like you said you would? You couldn't let Sam stay in Amity and be a normal high school girl? Wouldn't that have saved everything? No evil future self, no needless pain…"

"There would have been pain, Danny, his pain, and eventually, your pain as well." Clockworks eyes glittered strangely, his expression suddenly a little more watchful.

Danny recoiled as though he'd been slapped. He'd come here asking for answers, wanting an explanation, but he'd carefully buried certain things. Part of the conversation he'd had with his future self had been one of them; some of the things the monster had told him. But somehow he'd assumed, as irrational as it was, that whatever Clockwork said would have nothing whatever to do with that.

The other ghost continued after a moment, voice quiet and slow. If it wasn't for that permeating calmness it would have been the voice of a doctor attempting to calm down a troubled patient afraid of the looming needle in the background. "I know he talked to you, tried to tell you things he should've had the sense to keep to himself. You'd almost think he wanted to get beaten up." Clockwork smirked slightly, the most lighthearted gesture he'd made yet. It fell away quickly. "You two are clearly not the same person. You have different memories, different paths you've walked, and different personalities, Danny." Danny felt the tension melting away at these words. The needle had been put back in the cupboard. Yes, of course, that bastard had been lying; he'd known it all along…

The Time Master's voice cut through his jumbled thoughts. "But then, when you split yourself using your parents' technology a few years ago, the ghost and human half had distinct personalities as well, if you recall."

Danny stared at him wide-eyed, the tension he felt a moment ago redoubling, even as a sick feeling started manifesting in his gut. Suddenly the syringe was back, only a few inches away, and the nurse was rubbing the alcohol on his arm. No…

"What do you think would have happened if you'd stayed separate, Danny? After a year, or several years? Do you think the two people you would've become would still have been willing to merge back together again?" He paused as this sank in for Danny. "Probably not. It's hard for a person to let go of what they know, what they're familiar with. The idea of true change, especially of yourself, is very frightening to most people."

Danny finally found his voice, though it wobbled and was laced with dread. "Then you're telling me…," he faltered, unable to voice what had quickly become his worst fear. "Just make exactly clear what you mean, Clockwork!"

"You know what I mean." Clockwork's eyes trapped him, and his intense gaze felt as though it was staring into his soul. "He wasn't lying. When you die, you won't move on, Danny. And the same is true for him while you are still alive."

Danny took a step backward, his eyes wide. There was a strange rushing in his ears, though Clockwork's words were still damnably loud and clear. "He would continue to live through you. There are two bodies housing the same soul, and when one vessel is destroyed, that indestructible soul will simply exist in its entirety in the other vessel. I couldn't keep him, Danny. I never had a choice."

The rushing became louder as the meaning behind his words tried to sink in, tried to twist their way into Danny's heart. He took another step back, as if in self-defense, as Clockwork continued on, voice still calm, seemingly oblivious to the effect his words were having on him, or else too determined to continue to let it stop him. "Or, perhaps I should say that leaving him in the thermos wasn't a choice I could realistically consider. Temporary storage was the best I could do. A few more years in there, and he would've started going mad. As I said, his pain would eventually be your pain as well."

Danny panicked. This wasn't real, this couldn't be happening, it was a bad dream, a horrible nightmare…he had to wake up! He changed back to his human form suddenly, a spasmodic gesture to change anything, everything, to escape from his own ghostly half, and almost immediately fell back onto the ground with a thump as he tried to step back on wobbling, desperately weak legs.

Danny found himself pushing back with his hands and feet, crawling away from Clockwork, his breathing coming in ragged gasps, and his vision turning strangely grey around the edges. He was getting tunnel vision. I can't…I can't faint! Not here… "Shuh…heh…heh…," his breaths rasped, though he was almost deaf to the sound, the roaring in his ears overpowering everything else, "…you're wrong…you're wrong…" He wasn't that thing, he wasn't responsible, and he would never join bodies with him, the one who did that to Sam, never, never, never…

He fell forward as the tears came, fists beating softly on the ground, his gasps turning into a single long moan. No…no…no…no…no…! And then the panic finally took its toll, or perhaps he just wasn't breathing….and Danny passed out.

Clockwork stared down at the boy for a few moments, and the sad look from earlier once again passed over his features, stronger this time. He knew what had needed to be done, he knew this was the best path…but perhaps he felt a hint of regret, nonetheless.

Danny woke in his bed, feeling rested but strangely sad and a little weak. He'd had this horrible nightmare. It had seemed so real. He knew it wasn't, though, since he'd done things in it that he would never do in real life. He thought back over it, thoughts still groggy as he struggled out of sleep. His…other self had come back, and he'd fought him, but everything had been wrong…and then he'd gone to see Clockwork, which had somehow been worse. He'd told him something horrible…

The door opened suddenly, and Danny locked eyes with Jazz. She looked worried, and a little angry, almost manic, like when there was a particularly nasty ghost attack. Why was she so stressed out…? Slowly his eyes widened as they stared at one another, and then she turned and yelled over her shoulder, even as nightmare and reality tried to sort themselves out in his mind.

"He's just tired! He's turning in early!" She turned back around, speaking quietly. "We just got home. I told them you'd already slipped in. Good thing you're back. You can get your stuff from the RV later." She paused, jaw tight. "They…know Sam's back." She gave a tiny sigh, and suddenly looked very tired, then gave him a tight, sad little smile. "We'll talk tomorrow, early." She closed the door with a snap.

Danny stared at the door for a moment, then slowly curled onto his side and cried himself back to sleep.

He was floating in a warm, comfortable cocoon, balancing on the verge of wakefulness and sleep, at that point where the body is still part thought and part reality. His senses, like hearing and smell, were still mostly dormant, and he only had a vague hint as to how he lay, or what position his arms and legs were in. For him, this moment was luxurious, a tiny window of bliss, and he wanted to hold onto it a bit longer. It was one of the most ephemeral things about life, because soon the body would wake up fully, the memories would all come flying back, and then that beautiful, peaceful feeling would be lost…

Danny gave a tiny start, and rewound his thoughts a little as he began to wake up. Things came rushing back to him; the broken nose, ribs…arm, and how they'd gotten that way. He'd been lucky to escape that fight with his life. But he'd been drifting somewhere in the Ghost Zone, hadn't he? He'd been too weak to do much else…

But this was clearly the human world, and he was, somehow, relatively comfortable. Danny carefully moved a little, testing his body, and found that he was lying flat on a soft surface. Fine, good…wait, not good. His freedom of motion was also greatly restricted, and some areas of his body seemed disturbingly numb. Where was he...? After a moment he cautiously opened his eyes and squinted at his surroundings. Although the place was dimly lit, it was still too bright for his eyes. He was in a bed, as he'd suspected, and his lower right leg was raised up in some sort of cast, as was his entire left arm. His face, now that he was more awake, felt tight and sore. It was probably quite swollen.

A strange feeling of déjà vu stole over Danny as his eyes adjusted to the light and things came into focus. The texture of the ceiling, the paintings on the walls, even the bed he was in; it was all achingly familiar. He'd been here before. As his mind reached back, trying to grasp at why this place was familiar, the door opened. Vlad Masters walked in, cup of tea and a book in hand, and made his way to a chair to the right of his bed. As he sat he glanced up toward Danny, as if to briefly ascertain that he was still asleep, and their eyes met.

The only thing that kept the strange, horribly sad nostalgia from registering on Danny's face was the fact that he was still half asleep, and his emotions, along with his body, were half dormant. Vlad being here like this, sitting in that armchair, watching over him; it was all a powerful reminder of that part of his childhood that he had spent with Vlad.

He'd caught the man by surprise however, if the look on his face was anything to go by, and Danny briefly wondered how long he'd been here, asleep.

He cleared his throat experimentally, and broke the silence. "Vlad."

"Daniel." Vlad responded promptly, already over his initial surprise at seeing him awake, and turned to put what he held down on the little table next to his chair. There was silence for a moment, before Danny realized the strangeness of being addressed by his first name. The strangeness of Vlad knowing to call him that.

Vlad smiled slightly. "You're quite a mess, you know." He raised an eyebrow, a sardonic edge to his voice. "You really shouldn't beat yourself up like that." Danny resisted rolling his eyes even as a sense of uneasiness stole over him. That was Vlad for you; dropping hints about what he knew or that he had guessed with a lame joke. After a moment Vlad's smile changed into a thoughtful expression, and he looked down, studying his fingernails. "A thank you would be appropriate, I think."

"Thank you." There was no hesitation. He meant it more than Vlad could ever know. It was strange, having so much history with him that the man knew nothing about, and for a moment Danny felt sad again. This wasn't his Vlad. This wasn't the Vlad who had tried so hard to help him break through his haze of depression. This wasn't the man who had helped feed him, who'd made sure he didn't drown in the bath by sheer personal neglect, the man who'd made him move around, made him leave his room and go outside to keep his muscles from atrophying. The man who'd tried to single handedly make up for the loss of a father, a mother, a sister, and two best friends.

Yet Danny knew this Vlad would have done those things for him, too. Strangely, this meant that he probably saw things in him that no one else, perhaps even Vlad himself, could see.

Danny sighed and looked away, up at the all too familiar ceiling. In all honestly, he would really prefer a different room; this one was already doing strange things to him.

"How did you find me?"

"Wouldn't it be better to ask, my boy, how I knew to look in the first place?"

Danny began drawing pictures in the textured ceiling with his eyes. "I'm hardly a boy anymore." He paused, a strange thought occurring to him. "In fact, we're only…" he paused to work out the math, "thirteen years apart, since you had your birthday last month. We could be brothers." He smiled sadly at the hidden irony; they were closer than brothers, in a way.

There was a silence in which Danny could almost hear Vlad digesting his words. "So you're twenty-seven, which would be ten years older than your younger self? And I suppose Jack told you my birthday?"

Danny snorted softly. Vlad always needed everything to have an explanation, didn't he? "No. Someone else told me. A friend." He smiled a little, knowing that Vlad had to be incredibly curious by now. But the mildly happy feeling was quickly overpowered by a deep sadness, a terrible regret. Vlad had been the one to tell him his birthday, of course. November 14, 1967. He'd been his best friend, once. But after all Vlad had done for him through that dark year, Danny had ultimately betrayed that trust. He closed his eyes suddenly, brows crumpling as he tried to reign in the suddenly powerful emotions. Damn this room. He really did hate it.

"Vlad?" His voice came out ever so gently, a soft plea for help. "Can you move me into another room? We can talk all day long in there." For a moment, he was his fourteen year old self again.

"I…if you wish." Danny could hear the question in Vlad's words, waiting to be voiced. "Is there something wrong with this one?"

Danny caught his eyes, knowing that Vlad would understand best though a look. "Just memories. Bad memories." The words weren't much, but the feeling behind them, mirrored in his eyes was powerful enough to pierce through any resistance.

And of course, Danny knew that Vlad's sometimes cold exterior was easier to pierce than most people realized. "If it means that much to you, of course, my dear boy." Vlad immediately looked a little confused, as though he hadn't meant to say that but it had come out anyway. But in less than an hour Danny was settled as comfortably as possible in a thoroughly different room.

After all, he'd already spent an entire year of hell in the other one.

Vlad had to bring a chair and table into the new room, but before long he was situated with his ever present tea cupped in his hands, re-warming it with a little carefully controlled ecto-energy. It was something Danny had seen him do on countless occasions, and watching it again was strangely comforting. He idly wondered how long it would take for this strange feeling of nostalgia to pass. He had to remember, after all, that this Vlad had no memories of that year, and that he needed to stay on guard.

Being drugged with painkillers (which explained the numbness in various places, like his arm) and weak as a kitten would make it rather difficult to really protect himself, of course. Danny shrugged mentally. He probably didn't need to be worried, really. Vlad was manipulative by nature, and could sometimes be very cruel, but seeing as how he'd taken the time to make him quite comfortable, Danny was willing to bet he was relatively safe for now. And if he played his cards right, he could hopefully stay that way.

He pursed his lips, and started the conversation back up. "So…how did you know to look for me in the Ghost Zone?"

Vlad chuckled. "I never said I'd answer the question, only that it was a good one to ask." He paused. "Tell me, what are things like seven years from now?"

Danny looked up at the ceiling, face carefully blank. This ceiling was smooth, painted a pale blue, as opposed to the rougher off-white of the other room. He automatically liked it better. "Well, that future doesn't exist anymore, so that question's moot."

"How do you know that?"

Danny frowned, brow furrowed. "How did you know I was from the future in the first place?" He shifted a little, and added with a smirk, "Tell you what, how about we go back and forth? You ask me something, I ask you something. Deal?"

Vlad stared at him for a moment, face darkening slightly. He obviously didn't like his attitude. "I've had a professional attend to all of your wounds- a ghost doctor, mind you- I've had you cleaned up, and have tried my best to make you as comfortable as possible. I even completely indulged you just now by granting your request to be moved to another room, though for what reason I'm still not entirely sure! At this point, I feel I've earned the right to get a few answers from you without having to finagle for them."

Danny's smirk didn't waver. "And yet here we are…finagling." He played over the word slowly, enjoying the funny sound. "And I already told you, that future doesn't exist anyw…"

"Why then, Daniel? Why did it change? And why have you changed so much?" Vlad's eyes were burning with intensity. He was done playing games; he wanted answers, now.

Danny looked away, frowning, feeling a little aggravated. Did the man really think he could brow beat him into telling his life story? "How do you even know who I am? I could just be some random ghost!" He wished irritably that he could cross his arms.

There was silence for a long moment. Then Vlad answered, his voice once again subdued. "Approximately nine months ago Samantha Manson came to me for ghost hunting weapons." Danny's eyes widened a little, and he turned his head further away so as to hide his expressions from Vlad. Sam! She'd gone to Vlad?

"She wouldn't tell me why she needed them, or why she couldn't go to the Fentons. As such, I kept an eye on her. It was…quite a shock when I realized she was pregnant some time later." A slightly sharp note came into his voice, and Danny had to fight hard not to cringe. "I helped her after that, made sure she had enough money, a decent place to live, a good doctor. She wasn't aware of my help, of course. But I felt sorry for the girl. She'd clearly run away from home out of shame, after discovering, most likely, that she'd become pregnant after being attacked by some lowlife, hormonally driven Neanderthal." He paused, letting the disgust in his voice sink in for a moment. Danny squeezed his eyes tightly shut as his stomach twisted in tight little knots, glad that he was still looking away.

Vlad continued on, voice light again. "Or so I thought. When the baby was born, I kept a closer eye on them for a while, to make certain things were going smoothly. You can imagine my surprise when I realized the child was a halfa! Samantha, of course, was at her wit's end, trying to care for an infant who could literally sink through the floor at any instant." Vlad paused for a moment, presumably thinking about the complexities of raising a halfa child, and Danny waited, tensed, with a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"I knew I had to step in at that point. I had previously let her make her own decisions over those long months leading up to the birth. She deserved that; she's a very strong person. I had thought that, if she wanted to rough it on her own, so be it, it wasn't my place to interfere. I would simply look after her in little ways, as a favor to dear Daniel- the Daniel from this time, of course- since she was his best friend, and hopefully she would find the courage to one day return home."

Vlad sighed. "But when I realized the child was a halfa, I knew she would need very particular ghost equipment, and so I made her a few useful items as soon as I could. Then I met with her." He paused, as if considering what to say next. "Naturally, I had to tell her I knew of her situation, since a ghost proof playpen, for instance, could hardly materialize in front of her without questions being asked." Danny's eyes widened a little. The pen! That's why he hadn't been able to phase through it…

When Vlad continued his voice was a little rougher, a little more emotional. Danny was very tempted to look over. He was faking, right? He had to be! "It was incredible, that conversation. She was…she was under so much pressure, you see. Living on her own for so long, going through a pregnancy and a birth she could scarcely predict the success of. So when I came to her, she may have been a little more forthcoming than I had expected. Or perhaps it was all the help I had already given her, who knows? But she told me of her attacker, Daniel. That he was from the future, that he was full ghost. Who he was, or used to be." Vlad paused, and Danny couldn't help cringing. And here it comes…

When he remained silent, though, Danny hesitantly looked back over. It was what Vlad seemed to be waiting for, because he immediately added, "Of course, one only has to see the child in ghost form to see the resemblance."

Danny did a double take, shame temporarily forgotten. "What does he look like?" The game was up even as the words left his mouth, of course, and Danny looked away at Vlad's poorly masked smirk of triumph.

"He, Daniel? I don't believe I ever mentioned the child's gender."

Danny threw caution to the wind. He had to get an answer. "What does Nathaniel look like in ghost mode, Vlad?"

Vlad didn't blink an eye at the name. "Will you answer my questions with no more complaints?"

"Yes, fine." Probably.

"Well…," he paused again, and gazed into space as if picturing the child in his mind's eye. "His skin is very pale blue, paler than yours, and he has pointed ears. His hair is white, though it doesn't…," he raised an eyebrow at him bemusedly, "flame like yours does. Of course, there isn't very much of it yet, in either form." He pursed his lips, a hand going to his chin. "Whether his teeth will be pointed is anyone's guess since they're just coming in. But his eyes, interestingly, are green, not red. The color yours used to be, then." Vlad looked over at him expectantly, clearly finished with the description. "Well! Now it's my turn, I believe! First question: why don't you look exactly like Daniel's ghost half? Why the red eyes, and so on?"

Ouch. Time to stall. "Eh…maybe I lied about answering questions." Danny spoke in a lazy drawl. "You know Vlad," he raised his eyebrows and grinned, "you're really quite gullible for an evil villain."

Vlad's bristled, leaning forward angrily. "You insolent…!" Then he seemed to get control of himself, and sat back again with an air of disdain. "How very adolescent, Daniel, calling me an 'evil villain.' I find it hard to believe we're only thirteen years apart. You obviously haven't matured over time."

Danny pursed his lips, and looked back up at the ceiling. "Nope. Not really." He glanced sideways in time to catch Vlad bristle again, and get it under control, again.

Vlad grimaced, eyes narrowed. His voice was suddenly cold. "There is more than one way for me to get answers, Daniel. Don't force me to…"

"Threatening me isn't going to get you on my good side." There was a moment of tense silence, and then Danny finally backed down. Vlad did deserve some information; it was true, if only for fishing him out of the ghost zone and saving him considerable pain.

He blew out a long breath of air, suddenly a little nervous. "Vlad…what did Sam tell you about me? About how I became who I am?" This was a delicate topic, since he wasn't too keen on telling Vlad about his own little "contribution" to his ghost form, so to speak.

Vlad frowned, still looking annoyed. "She said there was an accident that resulted in the splitting of your ghost and human halves. And she said that you…" he looked away, his face strangely devoid of emotion, "killed your human self. She claimed she didn't know why you look so different, however."

So she hadn't mentioned Vlad's ghost half at all. Danny could feel a little tension melt away. "I'll just…rewind a little." He paused, and added stoically, "This is not a happy story." He sighed, his mind wandering reluctantly back to the event that had triggered all the eventual mayhem.

"The Nasty Burger in Amity Park exploded when I was fourteen. Doesn't sound particularly important, right? But that's where my time line diverged from this one. So. It killed people. My…family, Sam, Tucker. Me, if it wasn't for my ghost powers. Guess who…," he swallowed, "guess who took me in?" He half smiled, that ironic kind of smile people make when they're trying not to grimace, or cry.

Vlad's eyes were wide. "I suppose…I would understand you better than anyone else, wouldn't I?" Vlad's mind was still stumbling over the thought of everyone dead, of Maddie dead. Samantha hadn't mentioned this at all. Maybe she didn't know?

"Yes." Danny's eyes wandered the ceiling. They were searching, by habit, for the crevices and lines he'd once spent long hours tracing little pictures onto. But this ceiling was smooth, uncontoured. "I stayed here for about a year. That room I woke up in was mine, which is why I wanted to move, incidentally." He paused, and the next words came out in choppy sentences; the bare bones so he could get it out fast and then bury it deep down again. "Things got bad. I became more depressed over time, to the point where I wasn't functioning anymore. You helped." His voice cracked a little, and the powerful urge to tell Vlad how much he'd done, how hard he'd tried to help him heal rose up suddenly. Danny squelched it. Not here, not now. He was just going to get through the basics, and bury this.

"And then I found out about something. You…," keep the two separate, Danny, it'll make things easier, "your future self had been working on ghost stuff as usual, and you…he'd tell me about it, try to get me interested. There was an experiment, a device that could pull a ghost from a human. Stop someone from being possessed. But on a halfa…" He looked in Vlad's general direction, not really meeting his eyes, and raised his eyebrows.

"It would split you in two…?"

"Yes. So that's how it happened. You took a lot of convincing. I did and said some horrible things before you agreed." Like threatening to kill myself.

"But why would you…" Vlad's voice dropped off. How could splitting yourself like this have helped you? He couldn't help notice that Daniel had almost immediately dropped back into referring to him directly. 'You', not 'him' or 'your future self'.

Danny rolled his eyes. "I wasn't rational. I never said I was thinking rationally." He frowned deeply. "Like I said, I'd got you talking about it. And I asked about what would happen if you used it on a halfa, and you'd had a theory already cooked up that maybe different things, maybe even different emotions, would go to each half." He looked over plaintively, suddenly wishing Vlad could understand what this had meant to him at the time. "Somehow the idea of even one half of me being free from the pain, it became this amazing hope." He paused for a moment, and looked away again, his voice losing the intensity from a moment ago. "I think you only agreed because I was so obsessed with it." He paused, thinking back to the last few days before the split. "And maybe…I think you maybe had a way to put me back together. I think you thought I'd be split apart, and then I'd realize it didn't really help…" He stared up at the ceiling, the horrible memories after the split playing in front of his mind's eye. You were so wrong, Vlad. It didn't help, but it did hurt. He shook himself. "Then, you know," he gave a half hearted chuckle, "you probably thought that after I saw the error of my ways you would put me back again."

"I must've been truly desperate."

Danny locked eyes with him for a moment. "Believe me, you were. And you felt bad for me." He swallowed, dropping his gaze. "And…a little ashamed. That you couldn't help me more, by just…" By just being you, and being there for me. Danny looked off to the other side of the room, feeling particularly miserable. He really didn't want to talk about this anymore.

Vlad cleared his throat after a moment. "So you were split in two. Did something…go wrong?" Did something happen that might explain why, how you could kill your human half?

"I have no clue if it went perfectly. It worked, obviously, but it hurt like hell."

"Was this when you…?" There was a moment's silence as Vlad's unspoken question found its answer in Danny's eyes. Yeah, you're on the right track, Vlad. This is when I killed me. Vlad's distressed frown was genuine. "But why?"

Danny snorted softly, suddenly tempted to laugh at the absurdity of it all, of his life. "Survivor's guilt? I hated myself for living, naturally." Danny realized it was true. He had hated himself. But strangely, he hadn't thought about it much before now, and he was pretty sure that it didn't really play into why he'd attacked his human self. But he had to give Vlad something, he knew, and it had to be unrelated to the merge with Vlad's ghost half. "It was complicated. I think…the entire time I lived with you I never transformed once. And I wasn't angry. It never came out until that day, when I was…" literally torn in half. "I think it's still one of the most painful experiences I've ever had, and that's saying something." He nodded toward his left arm to illustrate the point, and sighed. Vlad still looked a little shell shocked. "Look, right afterwards, I wasn't right in the head. I don't remember everything that happened. I was filled with rage- I had a year of anger to make up for. So I took it out on my human self."

"But…" Vlad paused, realizing that digging at this, however much it grated at his nerves, wouldn't change the horrible facts; Daniel, the ghost, had killed his human half. So he moved on instead. "What happened to me? I was there with you, wasn't I? And why do you look different? Is this when your form changed?" He wasn't about to share any of his theories on the subject, but he'd be very surprised if Daniel said yes to the last question.

Danny swallowed, and looked back up at the ceiling, the safe, never changing ceiling. "Actually, I think I looked different immediately." Vlad suppressed the urge to raise an eyebrow as Danny spoke. "Right after the split. Couldn't say why. Maybe because for the first time it was only my ghost half, with no human in the mix?" Danny shrugged lopsidedly, hoping that Vlad couldn't prove that he was lying about this. "As for you…I think I pretty much left you alone, although I did some damage to the mansion. Things are a little hazy, though." Actually, I blew it up, and you, only human, were damn lucky to survive.

"And afterwards?"

"Like I said, I was kinda crazy for a little while. I started wreaking havoc, blowing things up, terrorizing ghosts and humans alike….all that good stuff. And somehow I just…never stopped." He smirked, trying to lighten the sudden pang of depression he felt, and added, "I was quite the crazed up fr…" Oh, crud. "…uit loop." He cleared his throat, hoping that Vlad wouldn't notice anything.

A brief sense of shock ran through Vlad as he stared at Daniel's profile. Thankfully, he was looking away, and couldn't see the momentary look of horror on Vlad's face. But the obvious lies, the missing pieces in Daniel's story, coupled with his own theory about merging with other ghosts…it suddenly made perfect sense. Vlad swallowed, seeing the ghost in front of him in an entirely new light. But he pushed down the shock. He couldn't think about this now! Never let a person know what cards you're holding. He hastened to pick up the conversation again.

"But the story's only half told, because here you are, in the past."

Danny felt the tension leave him as they moved on to a safer subject. "Yeah, I don't suppose Sam told you how I got here?" Hopefully not. Though he didn't see how Vlad could mess with Clockwork in any case, or if he would even try, for that matter.

"She said another ghost, I think by the name of Clockwork, had helped you to travel back in time."

Oh. "Er, yeah, sort of. He's a strange one. I wouldn't say he exactly wanted me to go back in time…" I wouldn't say he didn't want me to, either.

"I see." I see. Danny frowned slightly. What did that mean, exactly?

It was time for another question of his own. "So are you going to tell me how you found me floating in the Ghost Zone? And don't tell me it was a coincidence."

Vlad leaned back, frowning thoughtfully, and proceeded to spin his biggest tale yet. "Samantha was concerned." The word held a lot of meaning. It could mean mildly perturbed, or it could mean frantic with worry, either one. It made Danny's heart skip a beat, in any case. Vlad glanced down at his right hand, inspecting the nails. "She called me, told me there was a fight between you and, ah…your younger self. She seemed worried, strangely enough, that you wouldn't fight back." Vlad pursed his lips, a mild look of incredulity on his face. He looked back up with his eyes alone, narrowing them slightly as though contemplating an interesting conundrum. "And it appears she was right." He sighed. "So, I guessed that you'd probably go to the Ghost Zone to get away from Daniel, and thus I went to look there first, along with a few ghosts who work for me. So now here we are!"

Danny hardly heard the last few sentences. The important part was that Sam had been worried for him. She'd wanted to make sure he was safe! He felt like jumping for joy, and turned his head away to hide his involuntary grin from Vlad. He shouldn't feel this happy, but he did, he was overjoyed, because if she'd done that for him, then maybe she'd forgiven him…

His grin fell into an easy smirk. "I see." Vlad had probably lied about something, actually, but that wasn't important right now. A sudden thought occurred to him, and he looked back around quickly. "You've told her you found me, right?" Leave it to Vlad to put something like that off.

He nodded slightly. "She knows you survived, and that's all she really needed to hear, I think." The next sentence came out delicately. "I don't know that she actually wanted to speak with you, Daniel." Vlad looked down at his hands, which were clasped, and twiddled his thumbs a little. "Well, that's probably enough information for now, don't you think? I suggest you try to take a nap, since you'll need to stay horizontal for at least another week." He stood up, stretching a little. "If you need something, just ring for Louise. He's…"

"The cook. I know." They locked eyes. Vlad looked vaguely uncomfortable for a moment.

"Yes. Well...I've got things to do, so ta." He left, book and cold tea in hand, closing the door behind him. Danny, with nothing else to do, dosed off some time later.

Vlad made his way quickly down to the lab, while his mind flew in circles, attempting to assimilate the conversation. He'd learned a lot just now. Not everything, by far, but a lot more than he had hoped for, nevertheless

Samantha hadn't called him, of course. Daniel had certainly been touched at the thought, though. Vlad almost felt guilty. Almost. He could hardly tell the boy…oh, butter biscuits. He was hardly a boy anymore. Man, ghost…whatever he was. He could hardly tell him that he had Samantha under 24/7 video surveillance, and that his information had come from that. It just wouldn't sit well, to put it mildly. And of course, everything else he'd said had been altered a titch. The real reason why he'd been looking after Sam, and what she had, and hadn't told him. He had been going out on a bit of a limb when he'd fished for information about this Clockwork person, but it had paid off. He'd guessed right, and Daniel hadn't suspected that he'd been guessing.

Vlad made his way to his computer and sat down. Clockwork wasn't important right now, though. There was something much more pressing. After a moment of searching he brought up a folder labeled VP, for Vlad Plasmius. He clicked into it and was met with another layer of folders.

They all had to do with his ghost form. He had been his own guinea pig for years, and had tested the differences between his ghostly body and human body extensively. He'd studied how his various powers worked, how quickly his ghost form could heal, what was different on a molecular level between his ghostly blood and human blood, and hundreds of other little things.

He'd studied the DNA extensively; had an entire army of files devoted to the differences between his ghost and human DNA. Vlad located the file VPBW, short for Vlad Plasmius Blood Work, and began running a comparison between that and another file, located in a different set of folders, that he'd acquired much more recently. The separate DNA tests had already been run, and this was simply the data from those tests, so the scan itself, a simple comparison of results, only took a moment.

He stared at the screen for a moment after the program had run.

He'd guessed right. He'd found Daniel's altered DNA. The front of his mind moved forward quickly, running through exactly what this entailed, even as another part deeper down reeled from surprise and a little horror. This meant many things, his mind told him. This meant that Daniel, at fifteen, had somehow absorbed Vlad Plasmius into his own ghost form, that Vlad's ghost and human halves had to have been separated for this to occur, which in turn meant…what? Had he performed the absurd splitting experiment on himself as well? Perhaps Daniel had had something to do with it? He couldn't be sure what Daniel had left out of the story, but he'd said he, the other Vlad, had been desperate. But he couldn't imagine willingly going through a procedure like that.

He shuddered as his emotions came to the fore. He wasn't sure what, or who, this future Daniel truly was anymore, and his mind was rebelling against a disturbing possibility…

But after a moment his indefatigable logic rallied. No, the boy…man…didn't have any obvious… Vlad rubbed his forehead in exasperation. He doesn't act like me! He's not clever enough, for one. Really, his personality didn't seem too far off from this time period's Daniel. He certainly hasn't gained much, if any knowledge of my theories about how ghosts merge, or he would have known the lie about how his ghost form had "just changed" would be obvious for me to see through.

So that was settled. This Daniel may have some of his physical features, but he was in no way some distorted version of himself. Daniel considered himself to be Daniel Fenton, or Phantom, at least, and had all the memories of his family and friends, all the fondness for Samantha and presumably the others, and none of Vlad's own memories or inclinations, so far as he could see. Somehow this was an incredible relief, and for once he didn't want to analyze why.

Besides, there were other things, better things this bizarre accident in genealogy indicated. Nathaniel was partly his son. True, it was a small part, but the fact was he was related to the boy in a freakish sort of way, and somehow this gave him a deep feeling of satisfaction. The boy would be his, true, but in a way the boy was already his and always would be.

That brought up Samantha, of course. Had she…what exactly did she know? Vlad shifted in his chair uncomfortably as he let that thought develop. It was somewhat distressing to think that, by making a claim on the boy he would also be taking partial responsibility for what Dark Daniel had…Vlad swallowed. That was, that he would be partially responsible for everything the girl had been through. But that was ridiculous. He hardly had anything to do with that! Still, the doubt lingered, the tiny thought that perhaps his ghost half had been instrumental in Daniel's insanity, in his sudden violence and "villainous" behavior. Dark Daniel had called himself a crazed up fruit loop, after all, the much hated phrase the boy always associated with him. But there were some things Vlad would never do. Assaulting a woman was one of them. But then the Daniel he knew would never…

Vlad pushed the disturbing thought aside. It didn't matter. He didn't know this new Daniel very well, but he knew himself. That was enough.

With that uncertainty banished from his mind (though the freakishness of discovering the true origins of Dark Daniel would continue to float at the back of his mind for some time) Vlad turned his attention back to his favorite subject: Nathaniel. All his plans had been uprooted by the unlikely appearance of Daniel and friends, and new plans needed to be made.

Author's Note: Please review, cookies for all who do! Also, I'm sorry for the wait. I've actually rellocated my computer (the clunker that it is) into another room, and have spent quite some time (me and my Mom, that is) getting the space ready. (Painting, putting down laminade -fake wood flooring- and stuff like that. It's a little office now!) Plus I was really sick for about a week. (And I got to experience vertigo first hand, woohoo. Uuuuugh. )

Other stuff- for those of you who haven't checked out my oneshot Double Vision (found by clicking on my name, which will take you to my profile :D) it might give you a little insight into this story. There's no need to review it (though of course I wouldn't mind!), but if you want another tiny theory of mine, which'll shed some light on this story, then check it out.