The little halfa's grip dropped at the sight, eyes as wide as dinner plates. Dick and Bruce exchanged glances above him, each letting the boy slip through their grasp as the child wandered trepidatiously over to the window.

"...Moon!" Danny exclaimed in a happy whisper, finally getting that word he was after. The bright crescent shape waxed high in the sky as low splotchy clouds obstructed his view of most things. His hands pressed gently against the glass and his wide eyes soaked in everything they could get themselves on. Plants were dark green, shadows were black, there were... trees! Tree is a word too! He was so high up, he could see a glowy horizon but the longer he looked the more he figured out it wasn't the sun. Besides, the sun and the moon can't come out at the same time! That's silly!

He pressed closer to the glass, until his breath fogged it up. He scowled and moved to the side, only to have his annoyed huff make more fog on the glass.

That's when he noticed talking behind him. His head twisted around, instantly wondering if what he was doing was okay.

Bruce and Dick were talking again, but this time there was that old man with them...

Agent A!

A whimper escaped his parted lips and he placed his back to the window.

This drew the group's attention... oh no oh no oh no!

Dick's core almost violently turned purple. He started walking forward twards the halfa, his face written with the fear told by his core. Danny backed away from the approaching boy, his heart fluttering anxiously in his chest, sliding along the chill window surface.

"No no, its okay Danny, remember? Safe." Dick crouched again, still advancing and hand outstretched.

Danny remembered this action, maybe it was some type of order. So he swallowed thickly and inched close enough to place his hand in Dick's awaiting palm.

"Can you tell me what scared you?" Dick asked, looking at the small experiment in the eyes, not even paying attention to the gentle ministrations his hands were giving Danny's arm. The child's acidic eyes were darting all over place, sparkles were dancing before them and everything was getting kind of numb and dizzy.

"Breathe, Danny." The halfa didn't even know his breathing had gotten so off, but he sure noticed when Dick took his captive hand and placed it on his chest, obnoxiously mimicking breathing that he could feel through his hand. "In," Dick sucked in, puffing his chest out and resultantly raising the hand. "Out," his chest deflated, his hand going down with it. "In," Danny's chest started to follow the rhythm, he didn't know why though, he didn't particularly care either. "Out... good."

Danny was really tired now, his eyes kept drooping, his limbs wanted to rest and not move for a long time. Dick still held his hand to his chest, but now he was rubbing his hand while it was on his chest.

"You remember Agent A?" Dick asked. Danny's eyes flew wide open, cautiously waiting for the older kid to continue. "He has two names too, his name is Alfred. He is nice too, he only wants to help."

Danny was confused, mouth opening silently before he breathily asked, "...Wh-wha-what is... n-nize?"

Dick's face twisted into something Danny couldn't identify, but his core turned green. Did Danny do something wrong? "Nice is something good, like kind, both mean the same thing."

"G-good...?" Danny whispered, pointing weakly to Dick with his free hand.

Dick's face lost its odd look, it eased, some of the lines were going away and his core became less green. "Yeah, we're all good Danny, the bad ones are the Guys In White, they shouldn't have been treating you that way."

The halfa's gaze lowered, deep in thought.

"Sirs, if I may..." The old man spoke up, when no one objected -Dick even twisted around to face him- he continued. "Perhaps the young master would like something to eat before bed?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, his core swirled gently with dark green. Dark green? Wait wait wait... he'd seen that before... where? OH! He didn't directly see it because he wasn't looking at the core, but he'd seen that emotion on a face before. Hope! That Alfred person was hoping for something, just like Dick had earlier.

The blue eyed boy turned to Danny, a gentle happy lip thing on his face. "Danny are you hungry?"

Danny frowned, he wasn't hungry, but he could take some food to make sure he had some later when he was hungry. But he didn't know how to say that, or if he even should, if he didn't eat it right away what would they do? Best to be safe rather than sorry, even though his life was a never ending cycle of always sorry and never safe.

He shook his head, sending his albino hair flying.

"That is alright young sir, I'll make sure to make a hearty breakfast instead." Alfred's head dipped and the dark green hope spoiled into the inky black, literally shifting colors. Danny was fascinated by this, but said nothing. That was really weird, maybe he could use it to figure out what the black meant.

Danny's body decided that was an appropriate time to yawn.

"Yeah lets get you to bed." Dick said, still doing the happy lip thing and his core swam pleasantly in black and yellow.

The older boy stood up and still held onto Danny's hand, but he was okay with this because it was a rule. Danny was directed twards Bruce and Alfred, but Danny still wasn't sure about Alfred so he ducked behind Dick just in case. But he couldn't forget about Bruce, when the man came up on his other side Danny made a grab for his hand. He found it peculiar when a very light purple flashed in Bruce's core, light purple was surprise, because white is pain and purple is fear, and when you're surprised you are afraid and sometimes that means pain. Bruce was surprised by him holding his hand? ...But wasn't it a rule?

This made Danny uneasy, but they were already walking and Bruce was already holding his hand. Danny would be more careful in the future.

As Danny was led through various hallways that were equally as dark as the room they came out of, Bruce was glancing at passing pictures and his core darkened even more. The house was missive and beautiful, it was rather dark but that alone was somewhat comforting, but it was also scary because it was new. There were rugs, carpets, shiny lights, pretty pictures, and lots of hallways and plants, Danny took note of these things simply because he'd never seen it in a hallway before, the GIW never had stuff in their hallways except his blood on the occasional bad day.

The older people led Danny to more stairs, Bruce was staring at them with an oddly blank expression, but his core had some really weird colors Danny had never encountered before... what the heck was brown and light blue supposed to mean?

"Sorry Danny, were getting the elevator fixed at the moment, I don't think you should walk up all those stairs." Bruce said, looking down at the little halfa. Danny had his eyebrows furrowed, yeah that was a lot of stairs, he was still limping too. But what else was he supposed to do? So far his powers hadn't shown themselves beyond that first slip up, he didn't think they'd want him using his powers... He would just have to walk it.

"I'll carry you."

Danny blinked.

What?

Dick let go of his hand while Bruce crouched down next to him. Danny stared at the man cautiously, acutely aware they were still holding hands. "Is it alright if I pick you up Danny? I don't want you to hurt yourself." Bruce said, looking at the halfa with another bizarrely blank expression while his core told the truth. Bruce was hopeful, the dark green swirled with the other colors, nearly blending in with the black.

Danny stared at the core for a moment, he didn't want to miss seeing the dark green change colors, but then he realized he had to give an answer, last time he said no and the green turned black, what would happen if he said yes? Danny looked up, giving a small tense nod even though he wasn't quite sure what he was signing up for.

"Alright, thank you Danny." Bruce sighed and he let go of Danny's hand, instead weaving it back behind the boy's arms and his other arm came under his knees, scooping him up off his feet. Danny yelped for a second, clutching onto anything he could grab, which happened to be Bruce's shirt. The halfa huddled in place, trying to do what Bruce wanted him to do and trying to be careful not to touch too much, the agents never liked it when he touched them. His eyes found the man's core, the dark hopeful green had shifted colors completely like Alfred's had. But it had grown brighter, turning regular green, then light curious green, and settled at a simple happy yellow. Did that mean black was the opposite of yellow? But wasn't the opposite of joy sadness?

Being carried felt weird, last time he was carried was by Robin. He tried to be the same way, letting go of the man's shirt and curling a little to keep from grabbing.

"How's your leg?" Bruce suddenly asked as they ascended upwards on deep red carpets.

Danny was jolted from his thoughts, suddenly needing to answer the man. "...owie..." he whispered quietly, staring at his fingers. The little halfa's face was twisted slightly in pain, his leg really did hurt, but he was surprised to find his left side hadn't been hurting at all since he woke up. But now he had new burns and cuts all over from the ecto-net, his face hurting the worst, that's why he tried to keep his face blank, moving it hurt.

"I'm sorry, you probably shouldn't have walked up those stairs in the first place." Bruce said, his core being dashed with red and brown.

It was a gross brown, Danny realized, like poop, it was slightly green. Brown was also a shade of orange, so it had something to do with black and green and orange, but he only knew what the green meant so he really couldn't quite put a name to that color yet.

The little halfa would have continued his thoughts but they made it to the top of the stairs. But Bruce didn't put him down, he just kept walking. Danny tensed with this observation, what were they doing now? Why was he still being held? Were they going somewhere else now? Was he in trouble?!

But Danny stayed silent, his fists clenching as Bruce kept walking to a room on the far right, across from another door.

"This is going to be your room." He said, shifting Danny in his arms as he opened the dark mahogany door. The large man crouched and gently set the boy on his feet, the small halfa scrunched his shoulders to make himself smaller just in case Bruce was angry and took a few steps away with his gaze averted to the dark room.

Then the lights turned on and Danny was left speechless.

It was HUGE, the ceiling was so high up Danny couldn't even see it! He was delighted to find large windows covered one side of the room, giving it a very open feeling with lots of moonlight filtering in. A large bed with neat bunches of those soft squishy things Danny forgot the name of was to the right and a few of those special tables and cabinet thingies were to the left. The little experiment stayed stock still, afraid it would all go away if he so much as blinked. He looked in Bruce's general direction just to make sure this was the right place.

"Yup, it's all yours Danny." Dick said, coming up next to Bruce as they both looked down at the child. "Go on in."

Danny turned to the room, wondering where to start. He limped forwards towards the one thing he knew well, something he liked, the window. The halfa pressed his hand against the cool glass, his eyes as big as saucers once more. There still wasn't much to see at night but he liked how cool the glass felt on his hands, it was almost slippery and silky as he ran his hands over it. As he looked from side to side the bed caught his attention, it looked really soft, the softest thing Danny had ever seen.

He walked over to the bed, bewildered by how large it was and how incredibly surreal the fuzzy texture looked. He hesitantly reached out with a hand, nearly jumping away in fright when his hand dipped into the fuzz. It was so soft!

"I have some clothes for the young master." Alfred's voice sounded behind him.

Danny jumped away from the bed, wondering if he had broken a rule by touching it when he wasn't supposed to, but the adults were busy talking amongst themselves.

"Thank you Alfred," Bruce dipped his head at the older man and said older man left the room. Dick, however, had his eyes on Danny, and then so did Bruce.

Danny held his hands nervously as Bruce walked up to him, then he knelt down on one knee and offered up a folded fabric to the halfa. "You should change into... these..."

Bruce's words trailed off, but Danny paid it no mind, he was busy doing what he was supposed to be doing, which was taking his pants off and getting the new clothes on. The GIW did this every now and then, sometimes his clothes got too small or they just got too ripped to be called clothes. It made sense to get new clothes now because he no longer had a shirt even though he had new pants already. He did see the elastic band that were on pants though, which is why he took his pants off because if they gave him new ones he must take off the old ones, even if they are only a few hours old. The little halfa was so deep into his task he didn't bother to look up until he was reaching for the new clothes, but when his eyes flicked up he stopped abruptly. Bruce was staring at him, his core was red, it was... entirely deep, dark, crimson, red.

Danny let out a shaky breath, clutching his hand back and watching attentively with wide, scared eyes.

Bruce then closed his eyes, slightly shaking his head as the angry red swirling inside him seemed to dim, but still it sloshed around like a roaring river. "It's okay Danny, here, put these on."

The man held out the pieces of clothing and Danny quickly grabbed them, taking a small step away from the angry adult. If he got the clothes on fast maybe Bruce would be satisfied and not punish him. He found which one was the shirt and which one was the pants, but there was an extra pair of pants. It was smaller, also softer, but it looked weird. He held up the article of clothing, eyebrows furrowed and he looked to Bruce and Dick. What was it?

Apparently he didn't need to voice his contusion because Dick answered, and to Danny's alarm his core was full of red too, but half of it was blue.

"...Those are boxers Danny... you put them on under your pants." Dick said, but he looked really uncomfortable.

Oh, okay. Danny was glad Dick told him, he would have ignored the ...boxers... otherwise, and that would get him in trouble. So he quickly pulled the boxers on, then the pants, and pulled the shirt over his head. The child was again fascinated with what he was wearing, it hadn't mattered before but his clothes were not white or thin, they were rather thick and fuzzy like the bed blanket, but not too fuzzy that he disappeared into it, that would be scary.

Then there was a hand reaching for him, brushing across his arm and lightly holding his elbow. Danny flinched but then stood still, wondering what was going on. His heartbeat was speeding up, but he didn't notice because he was busy staring at Bruce's angry core.

"Danny." His voice was so deep and dark, grumbly almost, and definitely held warning in it. The halfa shrunk beneath the word but didn't attempt to move away, that would get him in trouble for sure. "Danny it's alright, I'm not going to hurt you, but I have a very serious question I need you to answer."

The child was already nodding, his hair bouncing with him and letting his newest captor get a glimpse of his wide eyes that were stuck to the floor.

"Danny... did the agents ever touch you in your private area?" Bruce asked, but somehow his voice was gooder... wait what's that word Dick said... nicer, his voice was nicer than it was before.

The little experiment frowned in thought, the agents touched him everywhere all the time, how could they not if they beat him up and put him on tables to be dissected? But Bruce was asking about a specific part. Remembering those experiments made Danny uncomfortable, but technically... the answer was yes.

Danny nodded again, wishing to be let go.

Bruce took in a deep breath through his nose, his hand letting go as if he heard Danny's silent plea as Dick turned away and looked like he was going to hit something. Both of their cores were a violent, dangerous, deep, dark red. Like blood.

Danny took a shaky step back.

"It's okay Danny, we won't touch you like that." Bruce said, his hand out like what Dick did before, but Danny really didn't want to give him his hand. Luckily he didn't have to because Bruce stood up and away, the offering hand gone but his icy eyes were locked with Danny's acid green ones. "You don't have to be afraid of us Danny," Bruce said, but his core was giving off so many warnings of danger, Danny couldn't NOT be afraid of them when they're like that.

Then Bruce's face became less lined and it did that up-lip thing, but even then he could see the tenseness in his face. "It takes too much energy in my opinion." As he said this he walked closer, Danny fought to stay still and one of the man's big hands came up. Danny shut his eyes and tensed, waiting for the strike, then jumped when the hand landed on his head. The child held his breath, waiting to be pushed to the ground, or a second hit, but the heavy mass stayed on his head. It moved around, his fingers carding through his dirty white hair, ruffling it gently from side to side. "See? No harm."

The hand lifted right as Danny was getting used to the feeling, he rather liked it even if it made his skin crawl, it spread through his body and made him happy. His eyes relaxed but didn't open, his head buzzing with the need for more of whatever that was. When Bruce moved away Danny ignored the warm feeling rising in his chest and face. He could fall asleep right here if he wanted to, he was so tired and whatever that was done to his head and hair made him really relaxed.

When his eyes opened he found Bruce moving to the side of the bed, yanking at the blankets. Danny trailed behind the man, cautious and bewildered. Bruce had made him happy, but he was angry, Danny had no idea if that combination was good or bad, but he liked being happy.

"Are you ready for bed?" Bruce asked, his core flashing light purple when he looked back to find the hlafa so close to him. Danny looked up at the man intently, trying to figure out what was really going on in Bruce's head. "Are you okay Danny?" Bruce questioned, arching an eyebrow slightly as Danny's staring lasted for too long.

The little experiment nodded his answer, another yawn escaping his mouth. Bruce's face lifted, something Danny wanted to ask about, but the man was moving on. The adult turned to the bed, "Alright then, let's get you comfortable."

Danny scowled in thought and put his arms on the bed, it was really high up.

"Do you need help?" Bruce's dark voice said behind him.

The halfa huffed and nodded sheepishly, stopping his attempts and wondering what the man was going to do to help him up. Bruce leaned down and grabbed under his arms and hoisted him up onto the bed. Danny squeaked at the sudden movement and fell flat on the fuzzy blanket. He scrambled to his hands and feet, almost hissing in pain when his leg twisted the wrong way.

Bruce then lifted the thick blankets and Danny crawled under them, going deep inside before curling up on the soft surface. Then the blankets succumbed to gravity and he became a lump that quickly grew warm under the heavy covers. The little halfa liked it under here, it was dark- which is good, but he couldn't see anything- that was not good. How was he supposed to know when Bruce or any other... keeper(?) came for him? Then a portion of the blanket was lifted near the edge, Bruce's face appearing in the bright crevice.

"Hey Danny, you're going to need some air. Put your head on the pillow, the rest of you can be under the covers." Bruce whispered to the sleepy halfa.

Danny's head popped up and he crawled to the edge of the blanket, staring oddly at the puffy things from the safety of under the blanket. He experimentally pressed a hand lightly against one of the puffy things... a pillow! He remembered! Pillows were for heads! He shoved his face into the mound of pillows, the halfas white head of hair being swallowed up by the mass of plushy fluff. Danny turned quickly, realizing he could not breath if his face was buried in the pillows.

He was surprised to find Bruce pulling the blankets up to Danny's chin, he wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing so he just let it happen. Bruce's core wasn't so red anymore, which is good, and Danny just realized he lost track of Dick, where'd he go? But he was distracted by the weird sensation of being under the covers, the softness was almost uncomfortable and the blankets constricting. In fact, Danny had half the mind to climb out of the bed and sleep on the floor, but he didn't want to make Bruce angry. So he stayed in the bed.

"Good night Danny." The man said kindly in a soft whisper, his face crinkled in the happy lip thing. "I'll come and get you in the morning for breakfast."

Danny didn't know how to respond to that, so he just nodded, his eyes on the man's core to make sure he didn't upset him. Bruce's core was a flurry of lots of colors, red, brown, blue, light blue, yellow, but mostly black. People and their cores seemed to be more complicated than Danny originally thought.

One of Bruce's hands came up again and patted the top of Danny's hair, making the boy wince and want for that feeling Bruce gave him earlier. But the sensation was gone as soon as it came and Bruce walked away, his core still spiraling with too many emotions. Danny watched him get to the door, he turned off the lights and gave him one last happy look while his core spoiled into darkness then he left, shutting the door behind him with a soft 'click'.

Danny laid in the silence, in the dark, in this fuzzy bed, in this big room, in a house with windows.

No more GIW?

The young halfa pulled his legs up into the familiar ball position, wincing as pain reminded him of his leg. He'd really like it if there was no more GIW, but what was out there? What other things happened in the world? Would Danny be able to do things? Would he be hunted? Could other people be nice? Or was Danny stuck here now? Trapped in a new GIW, a nicer GIW, but if he was... would it be so bad?

Dick said they were good, the GIW was bad, so Danny should be happy here. Danny wanted to be happy, but the best way to be happy was not having punishment, and that meant Danny couldn't do anything wrong. He understood earlier when he was expecting punishment that he hadn't actually done anything wrong, which is very good, it meant they wouldn't punish him for expecting punishment. That was part of the game they played with him, he hated that game, he'd rather have it one way or the other, not flip flopping in between. But Dick and Bruce had more colors than just red and yellow, they had more emotions to figure out, more things to keep track of, different rules than what Danny was used to.

Staying on these people's good side was going to be difficult. He would have to be super attentive, make sure they were happy with him, or at least not angry, at all times.

Danny shifted under the covers again, thinking deeply as his acid gaze found the large window that lit the room in a soft blue glow. He noticed the cushions under his neck felt oddly nice as it brushed against the indented part of his neck where the collar used to be. Somehow after having the collar for so long it felt a part of him, being without it was... off putting. He rather wanted something familiar in this weird new place where everything was backwards. He was also scared of his powers acting up like it had earlier, he didn't want to do anything wrong, and his powers were everything that was wrong with him.

A thought suddenly struck Danny.

Bruce probably didn't know he was half ghost.

The child whimpered quietly and curled his head inwards. If Bruce found out he was a halfa surely the experiments would start right away and the pain would resume. He would be subject to a second half life of full insanity until he was finally granted the mercy of death.

That must be why Bruce and Dick were so nice! It was because they didn't know what he was! Danny paled and curled further on the bed, his head being slightly covered by the blankets. Why didn't he think of this before?! Or ...another part of Danny thought... they knew he was a ghost and are just acting nice! But that didn't make sense in Danny's mind, Bruce's core would have hinted that he was acting.

Danny shifted uncomfortably and started rubbing his arm, not realizing it was similar to what Dick had done to him to calm him down. Things were much simpler with the GIW, he knew exactly what to expect, when things would happen, what meant what. This seemed to be a whole different language, and it technically was! But Dick knew his language...

Danny felt so conflicted, should he tell Bruce and Dick he was a ghost and deal with the results? Or should he keep it a secret?

His thoughts died down as his brain told him he needed to sleep, as if his eyes closing wasn't enough. Danny yawned and moved again, finally finding a comfortable position for his heavy limbs. His eyes felt like led and his breathing finally regulated, he was too tired to worry right now, he could worry later...

The halfa didn't notice that his nightly breath of condensation did not appear before he fell asleep.

4721 words.