Memoir

Chapter 2

Vlad lifted a heavy eye when he felt the covers shift. Weight was added onto the enormous bed and Vlad could feel the boy's body curl at his side. Vlad sighed exhaustedly, willing his eyes to open and look at the teenage boy. His hands instinctively found their way onto Danny's hair, playing with the untamed locks. "What are you here, Daniel?" Vlad asked.

"It's Danny, and..." Blue eyes flickered away from the silver-haired man and Vlad could barely hear the whisper that escaped the boy's mouth.

"What was that?" Vlad asked, a yawn escaping his mouth as he looked down at the boy curling near his chest.

"... It was cold."

Vlad gave a soft chuckled and wrapped his arms around the young boy. He grabbed onto the blue sheets and lifted them to cover both him and Danny. Young Daniel snuggled happily with his father, letting the large arms wrap around his small body.

"Better?" Vlad asked, swatting away stray raven locks to see his son's face more clearly.

Danny stared at the older half and smiled, nodding his head as a yawn escaped his lips. "Thanks, dad."

*

Danny felt around his bed, and brows frowned at the absence of another body beside him. Dad. Where was his dad?

He groggily woke up and rubbed at his eyes, trying to chase the tiredness away. He looked around and was confused by the blue room that surrounded him. He always liked the color blue. Did his dad repaint his room?

But his room wasn't the only thing that changed. There were fewer space items that littered his room. The walls were smaller and less spacious. The computer that sat on the far side of his room was outdated. And his bed was smaller too.

Danny looked around the room, wondering where he was. Then his eyes fell on the picture on top of the drawer. It was a picture of a happy little family. He was there, smiling. And Jazz, and Mom, and... Dad.

Right. Jack was his dad. He has nothing to do with the fruitloop, Vlad Masters. He wasn't a Masters. He wasn't Vlad's son. He was Jack Fenton's. He knows that. And the memories Vlad had drilled in his brain were fake. Fake. Fake.

He hated Vlad. He hated him so much. But he was... He was just right here. Right there, beside him. Why isn't he here?

"Danny-boy, are you okay?" Jack was there, in front of Danny's face, holding his trembling hands as he only noticed the tears that were free-falling from his face. When did he get here? How did he get here unnoticed? "Is it Vlad again? Did he come here?" Jack pulled him into a hug and patted his back, gently rubbing circles to calm him. "It's okay, Danny. He won't hurt you ever again. I promise. We promise." Despite Jack's reassurances, Danny didn't feel relieved.

Danny hugged tightly around his father, his real father, to try and make him come back to his senses, but Danny didn't feel any familiarity. Jack's body was foreign to him, that it was strange to hug the man. Danny shouldn't feel this way. He should feel safe. But he was hurting. He was hurting really bad.

Vlad crossed his mind again and his grip around his father tightened because of guilt and fear. He shouldn't be thinking of that man. He hurt him. Hurt his father, his family. What if he does come back? What should Danny do?

"You're safe, Danny-boy. You're safe." Jack's hand found its way into Danny's tangled forest of raven locks, and Danny couldn't help but remember how Vlad's hand was there. Just there.

"I'm safe," he repeated. The phrase to Danny was nothing more than just empty words meant to persuade himself. "I'm safe." The mantra repeated itself over and over in his head until the words were imprinted in his brain. "I'm safe."