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Danny sat atop the highest building of the city, legs swinging back and forth as he stared down onto the street under him. There, for anyone else nearly impossible to see from this distance, were his parents- with loaded blaster- looking for him. It would have been normal, they had been hunting him ever since he had become a halva, but for once it was far more serious.
They had found out.
It had started quite harmless, with a fight between them because his dad forgot another anniversary. They had started to argue and it ended with the compromise that his dad would be making no sound at all the next few days until his mother had forgiven him. It had stemmed from something said while they were shouting at each other at the top of their lungs, but Denny hadn’t listened, too busy to get to school on time.
The problem had presented itself to him after he had fought the Box Ghost in the City Park and then went to find an alley safe to detransform. Without his father making many unnecessary sounds, his parents were actually quite good at stalking, and the ghost detector that they always carried around with them helped them follow him.
Danny had just landed in an alleyway as they arrived and were watching with shock as Phantom turned into their son. Said son whirled around at the gasps and came face to face with his parents, their mouths open in shock, eyes widened as he mirrored their expression.
Now sitting atop the tallest building as Phantom, Danny still couldn’t believe it. He had hidden it so well for nearly a year and one argument, one mistake, destroyed it all.
Where could he even go now?
Hide at a friend’s house? No, he couldn’t stay here. His parents were rather efficient in ghost hunting when they were serious.
Hide in the Ghost Zone? But which Ghost would actually hide him? He had barely any allies and ghost didn’t like to make enemies, which is what his presence alone would do.
His head hurt just thinking about what the future could bring, all the What-If’s ghosting in his head together with the Would-be’s and Could-be’s. His ghost sense startled him out of his thoughts but his eyes didn’t leave the road underneath him. He heard the soft clacking of shoes as they made their way to him. He still didn’t turn, even as they came to a halt behind him.
“Hello there, young Daniel. Not attacking me this time?” Vlad said with a raised eyebrow. He was sure that the young halva had sensed him, why was he ignoring him?
Danny just sighed and continued staring down, hoping beyond hope that he would see a trace of doubt in his parents’ expressions. He knew he wouldn’t. Vlad meanwhile looked at Danny rather confused. Why wasn’t he saying something, why wasn’t he fighting? He was a mix of protective feelings, snarky comments and self-confidence. What was going on?
He stepped next to the teenager, following his line of sight to determine what exactly was the cause for this. He immediately recognized his old… Friends, who were talking about something shown on the spirit detector. He looked back at the teen, who at second look seemed rather sad and sullen.
“What happened?” Vlad hadn’t meant to say it as worriedly as it came out, or to say it at all, but he guessed worrying about the only other of your species was normal so he filed it away. Danny’s fingers twitched, whether out of surprise or out of pain, he didn’t know. Both didn’t and as Danny finally tore his eyes off the street he wondered distantly why he wasn’t against the idea of telling Vlad. Then again, it didn’t really matter anymore.
“They found out. They saw me detransform and… decided that I needed to be killed.”
Danny’s voice was hoarse and small, but it carried nearly no emotions. It sounded empty, monotone, maybe a bit helpless but then again, Danny was feeling rather numb right now. Vlad flinched at the younger ones reply. Surely, they wouldn’t hate their own son for something that was, in his opinion, completely their, or rather Jack’s, fault. It must be a misunderstanding, maybe they thought Daniel was just possessed by a ghost or that a ghost kidnapped the real one and took his place. Yeah, that must be it.
As if sensing the other’s thoughts, Danny replied.
“It’s not a misunderstanding, if that’s what you’re thinking. I could read it in Mom’s face after the shock ebbed away. She is far more observant sometimes, and in that moment, I could basically see her piece all the pieces together, all the experiments that reacted to me, all the disappearances, all the weird behaviors that I had, and she linked it all to the portal-incident. I died for her in that moment. But dad probably thought one of the things you rationalized with. Maybe possession based on his rage towards me.”
His voice was stronger than before, if only for at bit, but still as empty and monotone. His shoulders were slumping inwardly, his hands lying in his lap, his eyes just so empty as he stared at Vlad, it was as if he was already dead. But Vlad wouldn’t have that, no, he would not go back to be the only halva. He wouldn’t, couldn’t. Maybe he could talk some sense into the Ghost hunters. It couldn’t continue like it was now, he decided.
Mind made up he took one of Danny’s wrists and pulled him up. The younger one didn’t even flinch as he was pulled to the exit of the roof or as they made their way down the flights of stairs, convinced that today would be his dying day. Vlad detransformed and motioned for Danny to do the same, which he startlingly did without questioning it. Vlad felt a pit open in his stomach at that thought. No, concentrate!
As they neared the exit of the house, and with that Danny’s parents, Danny finally reacted again. He started shaking and opted to partially hide behind Vlad’s frame, pulling his wrist out of his grasp in the process and grabbing onto Vlad’s Jacket instead. They stepped out of the building and Danny’s parents twirled around at the sound. They weren’t studying the spirit detector anymore, having moved on and decided that searching Danny’s favorite places would be a better plan and had alas been hanging over a map.
A shot nearly hit Danny.
“Jack, Madeline, what is the meaning of this?”
Vlad asked in a stern voice.
“Are you defending him? He is with them, he needs to be killed.”
Madeline answered in a cold voice. Unnoticed to them, a camera zoomed in.
“He is your son!”
Vlad moved Danny even more behind him. This was wrong. This shouldn’t have happened. Madeline shouldn’t look at Daniel like he was scum. The young boy should have a loving, accepting family! Why didn’t he? He didn’t do anything wrong, not like Vlad knew he himself did. So why? It simply wasn’t fair. He wouldn’t wish this fate- his fate- on anyone, least of all that young boy. A child! A child who was hiding quivering behind his back so that his parents don’t kill him. Or worse. Pick him apart molecule by molecule. He didn’t deserve this.
“Give me the boy, Vlad.”
Commanded Madeline, but he payed her no heed. He later noticed that that was the first time in twenty years that he had ignored her, but just couldn’t feel guilty about it. His love for her faded the more he thought about this conversation later on, but it didn’t bother him as much. She had changed for the worse and he would never regret standing up for Daniel that day. For once, he was doing the right thing.
“I have seen enough.”
Was his brief answer to her as he turned to Daniel and lead him away from the people who he once called family. He covered Danny from any shots they fired and turned them invisible and intangible as soon as they were out of sight. Danny was still shaking, clenching Vlad’s Suit-Jacket with iron grip and then Vlad’s cape as the older halva shifted forms. It was startling just how small Danny seemed to be in comparison to Vlad at that moment. He was shrinking into himself, passive to anything, even as Vlad picked him up to fly to one of the houses he owned in Amity Park.
When they arrived, Danny broke.
All the emotions he had been numb to forced themselves at the forefront of his mind and suddenly he couldn’t breath and his sight was filled with tears who had started running down his face as his mind raced to get what had happened and he could barely feel the arms enclosing him, warming him and his core. He let it all out, sobbed and cried until all his tears and energy was spent, until he fell asleep in the arms that held him through it all.
Vlad laid Danny down on a couch in his office and sat on his desk. There would be a lot of paperwork that he would need to work on, calls needed to be made, evidence needed to be found. And for once, he didn’t do it for himself.