Hello everyone~ I come to you with the next chapter of TLWFF. Enjoy!

The Life We Fight For

Chapter 14: Family Ties

Four days had come and gone. It was nearing a month since Danny had gone into hiding.

In keeping with the agreement Danny and Vlad had made Danny consented to morning training sessions in which Vlad would ask him to complete a task (usually with a certain specified ability) and find things that needed to be worked on. At first, Danny had been apprehensive of Vlad's criticism, but found that the way Vlad explained the mistakes Danny made and provided detailed solutions for them made him more comfortable and willing to trust Vlad to critique him fairly. So far, Vlad had insisted they touch on the basics and Danny's sloppy footwork had been one of the first things to grab Vlad's attention. Danny had gotten so used to being in the air when in a fight that he'd slacked off on his hand-to-hand and earth-bound combat skills. Vlad was especially attentive to this particular flaw during training.

After the first day, Danny was just happy to be using his powers again. He'd gotten depressed at not having much use for them while in Vlad's home. Now that he could use his powers and push himself to get stronger, he was beyond relieved.

And as promised, Vlad had hired a music instructor to teach him four days a week in the music room. Again Danny was nervous about this change, but surprisingly Vlad had thought ahead and hired a young woman barely around Danny's parent's age who was used to teaching mostly youth. She was a kind looking lady named Sophie Cienfuegos.

Sophie was an average looking person for the most part, with fair skin and an average height. The only thing that stood out about her were her bright blue eyes. Danny liked to look at her eyes when he'd finished playing for her because when he did something right they seemed to sparkle when she complimented his work. Vlad often complimented his progress in training but it was usually flowed by copious amounts of critique that Danny would have to apply to his technique.

It was Monday afternoon when Danny was finishing his lesson with Sophie that Danny found himself especially tired and barely able to keep himself from falling over. He knew exactly why of course. His nightmares weren't going away, and he couldn't force himself to go to sleep anymore. Everytime he would lay in bed and close his eyes he would see those bright magenta pupils staring into his soul; as well as hear the awful sound of chains that would be burned into his memory the following day.

So he would sit by the window in his dark room at night and do homework or play video games, sometimes he even snuck books from the house's huge library to read if he got especially bored. However he absolutely would not allow himself to use his ghost powers. The last thing he needed was Vlad crashing into his room thinking they were being attacked, or worse, think that Danny was sneaking around the house doing things he shouldn't.

At this point Danny could barely keep his eyes open. When he hit the wrong note for the fourth time in a row Sophie finally stopped him.

"Danny, I've corrected you on this several times, and you look about ready to pass out." She said, her voice soft. "Are you feeling alright?"

Danny forced himself to sit up straight and on the very edge of the bench as he'd been taught and gave her a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, I'm just really tired today, sorry miss C. I'll get it right this time." He apologized, his hands going up to hover over the keyboard once again.

"Hold it!" Sophie exclaimed. "I think we've made good progress today. Honestly, you're one of the fastest learners I've ever seen. I think you can afford to be let off a little early today."

Danny would easily admit that a nap would feel almost heavenly right about now, but he couldn't risk Sophie asking him questions that would lead to him having to tell her about staying up at night. Or worse, he would have to lie to her. This woman was easily one of the nicest teachers he'd ever had, he didn't want to disappoint her.

"No no, I'm okay, really!" Danny protested, blinking rapidly to further wake himself up. What he ended up doing instead was giving himself a headache and making the room spin. Or rather, make him so dizzy it seemed as if the room was spinning. His hands gripped the seat tightly to keep himself from swaying like a drunkard.

"It's very clear you're not at your best today, so I'm afraid I can't permit you to push yourself like this. Just consider it a day off." Sophie said.

Danny had opened his mouth to reply when the door to the music room opened and Vlad stepped in, dressed in one of his more expensive black suits with gold cufflinks and accent buttons of the same gold throughout the ensemble. Danny frowned realising what it meant.

"My apologies for the interruption, miss Cienfuegos, I just need to speak with Daniel for a moment." Said Vlad, gesturing to the boy still holding the plush bench in a death grip.

"Ah, of course Mr. Masters." Sophie replied. Danny all but prayed that was all she said but of course luck was not on his side. "Actually, now that you're here I think it's an even better time to let Daniel off early, you see he's having a bit of hard time focusing..."

Vlad looked at Danny with a raised eyebrow. "Daniel?" He called.

"I'm fine, just a little dizzy." Danny said, finally getting up and walking toward Vlad. "I guess I just need a nap. I'll get right on that."

Vlad gave him a curious look and looked Danny up and down. It was true, he looked quite out of it. Sophie shook her head and stood from her seat beside the piano.

"Honestly, you would have fallen over in a dead faint if I tried to keep teaching you," Danny's teacher said. "Your father would have come to the same conclusion seeing you; pure exhaustion."

Danny and Vlad both tensed and Danny gave Sophie a stiff, uncomfortable look. He shifted a bit and glanced to Vlad. The man seemed to be content not saying anything. Danny met Sophie's eyes again and replied.

"H-he's not my father." Danny said. If Danny had been looking at Vlad, he may have seen the way the man's lips tightened ever-so-slightly and his hands curled into clenched fists. But alas, he did not see, for his eyes were on Sophie, as she put her delicate but trained hands to her lips in surprise.

"Oh my, how terrible of me to assume. Please forgive me!" She said quickly. Danny opened his mouth to answer but this time Vlad best her to it.

"It's only natural to come to such a conclusion. Do not fret." He said, though his eyes were not ones of forgiveness. "Now if you please, I really must be leaving soon. Daniel, come."

Vlad led Danny out into the hall. The two stood in an awkward silence for all of five seconds before Vlad sighed and spoke in a cool toned voice.

"Well, I came to tell you I have a meeting that will most likely go on till long after dinner, meaning I would be gone most of the day. But if you're feeling ill..."

Danny felt oddly happy that Vlad was willing to postpone his important work in order to stay home with him, but this time, Danny didn't want Vlad to help him. His nightmares were his to deal with, and his alone.

"Nah, really Vlad, I'll be fine." Danny replied. "In fact I think I'll go hit the gym before lunch, if you don't mind."

Vlad raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were going to rest." He said suspiciously.

"W-well yeah," Danny backtracked. "But I'm not really tired yet, and I feel just fine anyways so it's not a big deal, right?"

Danny laughed nervously and started to walk off to the far end of the hall that led downstairs and to his destination. Vlad fell right in step beside him.

"I sincerely hope you're not lying to me, Little badger." Vlad pushed. Daniel was like an open book once you knew how to read him. And Vlad was sure there was something he was missing here.

Meanwhile Danny's heart was pounding in his ears as he tried to appear casual. He couldn't let himself give in to Vlad's prompting. Vlad was the last person Danny wanted to rely on to deal with his nightmares. No, he could do this, just a few little white lies should do it...

"Chill, V-man! You don't have to go all parental on me, besides, you're not my dad. I'll be okay." Danny said.

Vlad stopped in his tracks.

Did Vlad know Danny didn't want to give up his parents for him? Of course. Was he certain Danny was still stuck on the thought that Vlad was a villain, and nothing else? Sure. Did he entertain the idea that Danny might never think of him as anything other than an uncle, if even that? Yes.

Was he expecting him to so bluntly say it...?

Perhaps not.

Danny had stilled as well, seeing Vlad leave his line of sight. Now he felt horribly cruel. He'd only meant to distract Vlad from his suspicions, but... Now he felt like a complete jerk.

Still, he forced himself to say nothing. While he hadn't entirely meant to say it as he did, Vlad did seem to think Danny would just drop everything and become his son at some point. Danny respected the man now, that's for certain, but he just wasn't ready to leave behind what he'd worked so hard to protect.

Life is not a fairytale. Vlad couldn't give him his happy ending.

"No." Vlad said, snapping Danny back to reality. His voice was slightly strained, but mostly cold and...uncaring. "I'm not your father, Danny. Forgive me for acting as such. I'll be leaving now, don't wait up for me at lunch or dinner."

And with that, Vlad quickly turned and walked away.

Danny stood there, watching Vlad's back as it grew smaller and smaller with the growing distance. His hand rose, to gesture, to reach for, he didn't know. All he did know was,

He felt like he'd just gotten a bucket of cold water splashed over him.

Vlad finally turned the corner, and was out of sight. Danny quickly changed into Phantom and flew intangibly and invisibly through the house to his room, where he slowly sunk to his knees on the carpeted ground.

He was so used to seeing things in black and white. So accustomed to being all good, and fighting all bad. But slowly he was realising that those thoughts were blinding him from what he really needed to understand.

But still, would he ever be able to fully trust someone who carried so much hate in his heart for so long? Would Danny ever be able to truly forgive him? The deal they'd made, had it been sincere?

Danny shook his head to clear it of the depressing thoughts. He couldn't think like that. He had to have hope! Always, even if all seemed lost. That's what Sam would want him to do.

Sam...He should call her. She was probably already miffed that he hadn't been contacting her as often as perhaps he should. Danny changed into his human form and pulled the phone Vlad had given him from his back pocket. He gave the device a weary glance remembering its creator and quickly dialed Sam's number, standing up to walk over to his bed and flop down onto his back.

"Hello? Danny?"

"Hey Sam, what's up?" Danny replied, rubbing at his tired eyes with his free hand.

"Honestly, not much. Oh, well there was a ghost attack yesterday, well, more like a box attack. Tucker and I handled it." Sam said. Danny could practically see her rolling her eyes. He chuckled.

"I have to admit, I kinda miss going out on patrol and ghost fighting." Danny admitted. "I'm starting to feel rusty."

"Maybe you are getting rusty, leaving all the action to us!" Sam teased. "Seriously though, don't sweat it. You're still the only one of us that can knock out ghosts in the blink of an eye almost every day."

"Thanks Sam." Danny paused in thought for a moment, getting an idea. "You know, Vlad won't be here all day, so since I'm free maybe we should go on patrol."

There was a small crash in the background and Danny pulled the phone away from his ear, giving the abused appendage a quick rub. When he returned the speaker to his ear, Sam was almost stuttering.

"W-well that's a great idea, absolutely fantastic, but I -uh- kinda already made plans, you see...!"

Danny raised an eyebrow at her tone. "Oh? What do you have planned?"

There was a brief pause and Danny's mouth melted into a frown. He'd known Sam since forever. Why was she being so weird now?

"Oh you know, my parents just- uh- invited someone over! Yeah, and it's a really important client or something." Sam replied in a rush.

"But you hate dinner parties with your paren-"

"Anyway!" Sam interrupted. "I've gotta go now, I'll talk to you later, okay? Bye!"

The line went dead. Danny hung up and stared at the screen in bewilderment. Suddenly, his vision went blurry, so he closed his eyes. He wanted to sleep, even if it was just for an hour or two, but he forced himself to sit up. He couldn't fall asleep just yet, he wasn't tired enough to fall asleep and not have a nightmare. He could stay awake for just a little while longer.

He decided to call Tucker. If anyone knew about Sam being a spaz, he would. It felt strange, having to go to his best friend for answers now that he couldn't see them everyday. He missed them.

But, he felt safe here. As safe as he could feel, anyway. Danny dialed Tucker's number and forced himself to keep his eyes open as it rang.

"Hey dude, what's up?" Came Tucker's voice after the second ring.

"Hiya Tuck, I just had the weirdest conversation with Sam..."

"Oh yeah? You two lovebirds have a lovers' quarrel?" Danny blushed.

"No, and we're not lovers!" Danny snapped. "She totally blew me off for a meetup later, you got any idea why?"

"M-maybe she's just busy. Haha, you know, some weird girl stuff?" Tucker said.

There it was again, that uncertain stutter. What the heck was going on? What were his friends not telling him?

"Tucker..." Danny growled, elongating the syllables to draw out his friend's name.

"I mean, it's not like she hasn't ever ditched us b-before, right?"

"Tuck..."

"They're-I mean she's- totally not doing anything important later, nah, not at all!"

"Tucker!" Danny snapped. He sighed to clear the harshness in his voice. "Spill."

There was an equally frustrated sigh on the other end of the call, before a subdued 'Alright, alright.'

"The girls, your sister and Sam, they...They've been looking into some legal stuff." Tucker explained.

"Like what?" Danny pressed.

"Like..." Tucker paused. "Like how to get you legally liberated from your parents. If...if they gathered enough evidence of some kind of abuse..."

"They'd be able to get my parents in jail. Without me even there." Danny finished. His voice had fallen into a whisper. "They can't. I won't let them!"

"They've been talking about it for this whole past week. They were going to get together later, to plan it out I guess." Tucker said.

Danny's heart was pounding in his ears. No, he wasn't about to be let his parents be thrown in jail when he'd endured this nightmare of being alone in a mansion with his archenemy for nearly a month! He refused to let it happen, he was the hero, he was supposed to save people! If he couldn't even save his parents...

What kind of superhero was he?

"Thanks Tuck, I...I gotta go." Danny said, and without waiting for a reply, he hung up.

He stormed out of his room and headed to the gym. He had some anger to vent before it got to late in the day. Especially because,

He fully intended to crash his sister and Sam's little party later. Without a doubt in his mind.

Danny slammed his door behind him, startling a couple of maids dusting around the corner, and stomped down towards the gym. As he headed down the stairs to the ground floor, Godfrey met him in the steps.

"Ah, good afternoon, Mr. Fenton. Heading off to lunch?" Godfrey asked casually.

Danny nearly face-palmed. Of course he had to run into the one person that seemed to have a zen effect on everyone around him.

"Well, not exactly, I'm not that hungry today." Danny said, giving the butler a nervous smile.

Godfrey's eyes bore into Danny's. "Are you not feeling well?" He asked.

"No no," Danny waved his hands as if in surrender. "I just ate big breakfast, you know? Nothing to worry about."

Godfrey relaxed but his eyes still looked uncertainly at him. Danny tried to continue down the stairs, but his head got foggy, and he gripped the marble banister tightly to keep his balance when everything seemed to tilt to one side. It took him three seconds to realize he'd stumbled a bit and was leaning on the banister. Godfrey had a grip on his shoulders, and truthfully, Danny wasn't sure if he would've stayed upright without it.

"I'm fine." Danny said. It seemed as if he'd said that phrase a dozen times today. "Just clumsy."

This time Godfrey wasn't buying it. "You are not fine. Come, you need a good meal in you as soon as possible."

Godfrey began leading him by the shoulders down to the dining room despite Danny's protests. Unfortunately for the young halfa, he was too sleep deprived to put up much of a fight. However on the bright side, Godfrey believed he was just starving. It was easy enough to fake a full stomach. If he just powered through lunch, he could get Godfrey off his back. Hopefully.

Once he sat down and was served he began to think of a game plan for confronting his friend and sister. His heart burned with their betrayal, but he just hoped they just were trying to help him, it would be easier to convince them to drop the legal stuff that way. Besides, he and Vlad already had a plan.

Danny's thoughts wandered to Vlad then. Was his meeting going to involve the new laws they'd discussed? Was Vlad even going to be able to accomplish that kind of goal? Danny nervously shoved the last bite of his sandwich in his mouth and grabbed a second one.

Vlad hadn't seriously betrayed his trust, yet. But there was something nagging him, he felt like he was unable to go any further as far as his 'relationship' with Vlad was concerned. His gut was hardly ever wrong, but still...

Hurrying to finish his lunch Danny left the mansion and flew in ghost form high above the clouds to kill time. He also leisurely made his way to Sam's neighborhood, as he assumed the two girls would be meeting there as opposed to Danny and Jazz's home.

His eyes slipped closed as the lazy breeze of midday washed over him. He missed flying over Amity like this. No care in the world, just the pale blue sky, the milky white clouds, and himself.

Suddenly, he felt gravity yank him down and his eyes shot open.

Did he just fall asleep?!

Danny caught himself and hugged his arms to his chest, staring in horror at the concrete he would have landed on.

He seriously needed a nap.

But not yet. There would be time for that later. Now, he had a job to do.

As he hovered in front of the Manson's large home, he closed in on Sam's bedroom window and cocked his head to the side. He listened with his sensitive hearing and found what he was looking for.

"I don't know, don't you think it'd be hard to convince an attorney to help us? We're just kids."

That had to be the voice of his friend Sam. So, Tucker was telling the truth. He ignored the flutter of anger in his chest and forced himself to continue listening.

"Not with this kind of evidence. I've got tons of video on my parents, since they like to document all of their tinkering and experiments."

And there was Jazz. The logical and mature tone of voice could belong to no other. Having heard enough, Danny flew through the window using intangibly and made himself visible. His eyes were hard and he frowned in constrained anger.

Jazz noticed first. "L-little brother!" She exclaimed.

"Don't you 'little brother' me!" Danny snapped. "What's going on?!"

Sam jumped up from her sitting position on her bed next to Jazz to calm things down.

"Hold on, I know this looks bad, but-"

"Bad?" Danny scoffed. "You're going behind my back to do exactly the opposite of what we planned to do! Why!?"

Jazz stood too, her face more frustrated than anything. "They're my parents too Danny, and you haven't had to live with them this whole time, you have to accept it; mom and dad don't care about us anymore!"

Danny's eyes glowed a toxic green, like pure ectoplasm. His heart was thudding in his chest. He refused to believe her. The protection of his family and friends was all he stood for, all he aspired to achieve. He couldn't allow himself to let them down.

He would find a way to fix this, he had to.

"That's not true." Danny said, his voice tight. Even Sam was looking at Jazz in surprise. Yet, she couldn't blame Jazz for thinking as she did.

"Grow up already, Danny." Jazz said, her eyes getting glassy. "You can't be the hero this time. No one can. Just give it up."

Danny shook his head, hugging his arms around himself. He landed on the floor of Sam's bedroom with a soft 'plunk' of his silver boots.

"Danny..." Sam said. "Just trust us, we want to do this for you!"

"Don't you get it?!" Danny exclaimed. "I'm trying with all my power to fix this, and you're making it all the more harder! Just let me keep trying, even if this plan doesn't work, I..."

"Maddie Fenton is gone, Danny. She's not coming back." Jazz said, with no emotion in her voice.

"That's not true! In my dreams he-!"

Realizing his slip, Danny clapped his hands over his mouth. Great, Good going, Fenton.

"Danny?" Sam questioned. "What did you see?"

Danny hesitated. On the one hand, he didn't want any of them to worry about him. They had enough to deal with in their own. But on the other hand, if it would deter them from taking action against his parents...

"Well," Danny took a shaky breath. "Ever since fighting him at the pier, I've confirmed that there is a ghost involved in all of this."

Jazz's eyes widened. "Danny! Why didn't you tell us?!"

Danny shrugged, unsure of the answer himself. However Sam had a more pressing question on her mind.

"What did you mean by, 'in my dreams'?" She asked, keeping her lavender eyes on his.

Danny shifted uncomfortably under her gaze. If he told them he was staying up at night, they'd go into a frenzy. But still, Danny supposed he owed them that much information at least.

"I keep seeing him in my dreams, he calls himself Deus Ivix." Danny explained. "Sometimes, they're so intense I can barely sleep."

A little truth, a little lie, what could it hurt? All they needed to know was what the nightmares consisted of, anyway. Danny was under no obligation to tell them he stayed up as long as possible to avoid them.

"Please you guys, just let me find out how to beat this monster." Danny pleaded. "Just let me try!"

Jazz and Sam looked at eachother and Sam sighed. She hated seeing her friend so upset. Besides, they'd survived this long, what could another week or so hurt?

"We'll drop it." Sam said. Jazz looked about to argue, but Sam shook her head. "With this new info, maybe we can help."

Danny smiled genuinely and relaxed his tensed muscles. His relief did not go unnoticed by the other two.

"You should go get some rest Danny." Jazz said. "You kinda look exhausted. Is it the nightmares? Vlad isn't doing anything to you, is he?"

Danny would have found her question completely legitimate a month ago, but now he just chuckled. Vlad wouldn't be able to hurt a single hair on his head, aside from training of course.

"Nah, I can handle the fruitloop. I'll see you guys later, mk?" Danny called, backing up towards the window. The girls waved to him as he left and headed off into the clouds again. The higher he flew, the less of a chance there was he would be seen.

Relaxed as he seemed, inside Danny was still not sure he could trust his angered and hurt sibling to keep her word. Sam he knew wouldn't dare betray Danny after directly promising to drop the issue, but his sister was a lot more tricky than she seemed. He would know, she'd pulled elaborate pranks on Danny since grade school.

Either way, the business was done with. No matter what conflicting emotions he still had. He just wished it hadn't come to telling his friend and sister about his nightmares. Two more people knowing meant twice the chance of Vlad finding out. And he couldn't have that. His pride couldn't handle it!

As his cheeks heated at the thought, his sensitive hearing caught a strange sounds he hadn't heard in awhile.

A scream.

Fueled by adrenaline, Danny dove from the cover of the cloudy sky down to the busy district below. His eyes scanned the ground for any sign of trouble, and it didn't take long to find the source of the commotion.

The big, bad, metal ghost himself flew directly in his direction, a smug smile on his face at the chaos beneath them. When Skulker's eyes focused on Danny, his pupil-less eyes seemed to light up.

"Well well, if it isn't the ghost child himself!" Skulker's taunted, halting his ascent just mere feet away. "I thought you'd gone into hiding, but this is much better. For me, anyway!"

With the loud declaration Skulker lunged forward and threw an ectoblast at Danny, who skillfully dodged but was tossed to the side by a swiping metal arm flinging him to the right of Skulker. Danny quickly retaliated with an ectoblast of his own and succeeded in striking Skulker in the left shoulder.

Skulker, now enraged, roared and unveiled two mini rocket-launchers from his forearm and fired at Danny with no hesitation. Danny turned and flew at top speed away from the ectoplasm-seeking rockets and tossed Ice behind him, forcing the rockets to explode. What he didn't expect, was Skulker emerging from the smoke and throwing a punch at Danny. Without time to fully react, Danny was only able to hold up a weak shield.

His shield was shattered on impact and Skulker's fist solidly connected with Danny's gut. He was thrown back and landed harshly on top of a nearby building. He coughed violently, not needing oxygen but still uncomfortable with getting the wind knocked out of him. Skulker's boots came into vision and Danny grunted when his hair was viciously grabbed and yanked upward.

He forced himself to be calm as Skulker conjured a blade from his suit and held it at Danny's throat.

"It's honestly a bit sad you've gotten so rusty, whelp." Skulker said. "You know how much I enjoy a challenge."

Danny grounded himself as well as he could and charged his hands with energy.

"Then I better not disappoint, huh?"

Danny swung both his hands up and shot a powerful blast directly into the centre of the ghost's metal chest. Skulker gave a cry of surprise and released Danny, an electric sparking beginning to light up around him. Cords of all colors emerged from the gaping hole in the armor, sizzling and popping. Danny quickly regained his bearings and shot into the air, leaving a writhing, injured Skulker behind.

Danny flew as quickly as possible in the direction of the mansion, but his energy was draining fast. His eyes were blurring in and out of focus. His fatigue was finally catching up with him. Danny dropped onto a rooftop and bent to lean his hands on his knees. He lost the energy to keep himself in ghost form and soon was kneeling on the rooftop, fully human. He looked up at the sky and sighed as he realized it was growing late already. Vlad wouldn't be happy arriving home and Danny being missing.

Danny's breathing was ragged and laboured, and he was sure he could still feel the shot he took to the shoulder just moments ago. It seemed his healing abilities were slowed with his lack of energy.

Though his ghost form did not require sleep, his human half greatly affected the condition it was in, just as when his ice powers went unused he felt like he was freezing despite being 100% human.

"This reeks." Danny complained. "It can't get any worse!"

His phone buzzed in his back pocket and Danny sighed dramatically.

"I've got to stop jinxing myself." He mumbled, pulling out the device and seeing the caller ID.

Vlad.

Danny answered and put the phone to his ear. Before he could say a word, Vlad was yelling.

"Daniel! Where on Earth are you?! I've searched all over the house and you're nowhere to be found! Explain yourself!"

Danny winced at the tone the man used and tried to force his breathing to slow. He felt dizzy, and abnormally hot. He wouldn't be able to fly back on his own in this condition.

"Come get me, then." Danny said.

"Excuse me? This is serious!" Shouted Vlad. "Why in the world didn't you tell anyone where you were going?! This is- are you out of breath?"

Danny rubbed his eyes with his free hand, trying to relieve the fuzziness from his vision, before realizing he was so dizzy he was experiencing blurred vision.

"I'm serious. Come get me." Danny said once more, before he shakily hung up and dropped to the ground, out cold.

The last thing Vlad had expected upon his arrival back home was a worried butler and oblivious staff, all wondering the same thing.

Where was Daniel?

Vlad had exploded in anger, thinking Danny had disobeyed him and entered the ghost Zone, but upon searching through his lab's security camera's feed he found that Daniel hadn't set foot into his lab at all that day.

A quick sweep of the house and searching of his ghost signature proved Daniel was not in the mansion , either. Thus, Vlad decided to call his cellphone.

The conversation that had followed was more than a little confusing.

Vlad took his cellphone from his ear and frowned in confusion. Daniel had sounded seriously out of breath, which was never a good sign. Especially for Daniel, who was never knocked down easily. Vlad was especially curious as to what Daniel had gone out for now more than ever.

'Come get me.'

With Daniel now living with him Vlad was thrown into a worrying reality in which he had the dire need to know where Daniel was and how he was physically at all times. As his temporary guardian of sorts, it only seemed natural.

Right now, both those rights were being impeded on, and he didn't like it one bit. The billionaire quickly turned on a feature on his phone, one that would give him the exact location Daniel was in, or, the exact location his phone was in, and memorized the coordinates. He was in the middle of town! What was he doing in such an obvious location?

Vlad stood from his desk chair and crossed the space of his office while stuffing the phone into his inner suit pocket.

Vlad then changed to Plasmius and exited the large house with the help of his powers in pursuit of Daniel. The boy wasn't too far away, as Vlad's own home was not very distanced from the most busy part of the town.

The problem was his nerves. Each second seemed to drag on and a five minute trip felt like an eternity not knowing what shape he was going to find Daniel in. When the building Danny had been located at came into view, Vlad couldn't help the sigh of relief that pushed past his lips.

Vlad's eyebrow quirked upwards at identifying the building as a standard apartment complex, and didn't see any real reason Danny would be inside. Unless...

Vlad descended onto the flat roof and scanned the area. His blood red eyes landed on Danny's limp body and he shot towards him as fast as possible.

He swiftly and skillfully checked the unconscious boy's pulse and gave a sigh of relief when he found it a little shaky, but otherwise alright. Vlad checked over Danny's easily accessible areas for injuries and, finding none, scooped him up into his arms as gently as he could. Danny did not stir in the slightest. He truly was out cold.

Vlad took no time at all returning to the mansion and the first thing he did was get Daniel to his room and into bed. He then flew to the connected bathroom and retrieved a small towel which he made damp with water. He brought it back to Daniel's room and draped the cloth over the teenager's forehead, not knowing what else he could do.

Daniel sighed as the cloth was applied and seemed to relax a bit. Vlad allowed himself to relax as well and pulled Daniel's desk chair to the bed to sit beside him. He was still curious about where the younger halfa had gone off to and wasn't going to mentally rest until he had answers. Now that he knew Daniel wasn't in any immediate danger he was furious at the clearly poorly thought-out decision the boy had made.

And after all the billionaire had done to keep him safe, he runs out and endangers himself! Oh, what Vlad would do when that child woke up...!

Danny groaned in his sleep and Vlad's eyes snapped to the sleeping pest. Danny's eyes were squeezed shut and he was tensed up like a coiled spring.

Vlad sighed and let his ectosignature go unrepressed slightly, allowing Daniel to sense him there without physical contact. Daniel's mouth opened in a gasp and a blue mist waded out of it, causing the boy to shiver. After this however, he relaxed and seemed to accept Vlad's presence. Good thing too, because Vlad was not about to touch him and get caught by the brat in his tyrannical deep-sleep state, again!

Vlad leaned back and let his body relax further. His plans for their mutual ghost enemy could wait for now. His work for the city certainly could wait as well.

For now, Vlad believed a nap would be just the thing he needed right now. After that, he would deal with everything.

Next Chapter: New Revelations come to light and the biggest question is finally asked; Can Danny truly trust Vlad Masters?

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Hey, this is going up a whole week early! Weird right? :P I usually post on the 22nd of each month, but hey, miracles do happen! Anyway, tell me what you think in the review section, if you so wish.

Or just say SPARKLE, whichever works.

-P