Three year old Danny was walking happily along in a crowded place, a boy was walking next to him. They looked identical despite one was four years older than the other. They both had the same brilliant blue eyes and raven black hair. Both a little short and lanky for their ages.

Danny looked over to his older twin, but he didn't recognize him, he had no name. He wasn't even sure what his face looked like, every time he looked he only saw a blur and a faint blue. Someone called out to him, they both looked up. A man and woman stood far away, near a big yellow and red tent. Both of their faces were blurred but he felt like he knew what they were. The man was calling for them.

Danny's twin ran to the man, yelling joyfully for Danny to do the same, but Danny stayed. In a daze, Danny watched as his older twin was held happily in the arms of the man who shared their dark hair. Realization hit him, this was his family, a mother, a father, and a brother.

But it was all to soon taken away.

The dream... the memory... took a twisted turn as Danny felt invisible hands grabbing him, his family's faces contorted into faces of worry and anger. Danny tried to fight back against the hands that were taking him away from his family, clawing at the air where he felt grabbed. He cried out for his family, tears pricking at his icy blue eyes.

His mother yelled his name as he caught one last glimpse of his family. His mom's hand was stretched out for him, her mouth agape with her cry, but he was too far away. His vision slowly went black, the last image his mothers pained face.

...

He was sitting now, in a place filled with kids. He grumbled and griped, speaking only Romanian. Danny frowned at all the kids around him, he wanted his family back, he wanted his mother and father and nameless brother.

A woman with hair like his mothers' came to him. He liked this woman, she had pretty purple eyes and wore a weird blue suit. A large man came with her, in an orange suit with black hair. They walked together like his parents did, happily and with another kid. But instead of a black haired blue eyed boy in their arms it was a girl with long red hair.

The man set the girl down in front of Danny and all the other kids seemed to fade away. The girl looked at him oddly, like she wasn't sure of something.

"Go on Jazzy! Meet your new brother!" The big man said with a loud -but nice- voice. The girl, Jazzy, looked to her father and back to Danny, obviously still unsure. Danny felt the same way. New brother?

Danny wanted his real family, he pouted and screamed when they took him away, but he couldn't possibly be mad at them, they got him away from all the other annoying kids who would tease him for his background with... what was it? Ack- acro- aro- something with an 'a' and a 'c' sound.

The scene changed quickly with a flash and blur of colors.

He was in a dark room, full of odd machines and lab equipment, he was still three. He walked around gawking at all the big stuff, when your three years old everything is big and interesting. Danny's attention was caught by a dark hole, he ran to it, finding the perfect place to hide from his new parents and sister, he wanted his real family. He didn't hate this family, he just wanted his old one.

He sat inside the weird hole, crying silently to himself. He wanted his brother, he wanted his mother, he wanted his father. But he could not find them, he probably wouldn't recognize them, he didn't even know their names.

He cried himself to sleep, waking up stiff and sore in the odd position. He stood on unsteady legs, his hand pressed against something inside the hole.

Danny saw a flash of white.

Then pain

His body erupted with searing heat, like lighting stuck his bones. The pain was so intense it felt like a thousand suns were heating up his body all at once and somehow he wasn't burned to ashes, even if for a moment he wished he was. Sparks were everywhere, his screams hurt his throat, but it only happened in an instant.

Danny stumbled out of the hole. When the pain subsided he looked down at his body.

He had snow white hair and glowing green eyes, he could now walk through walls, disappear and fly! He was now much more unique than the other guys. (XD sorry not sorry!)Fear gripped him like a leech. What would his new parents think? He somehow got to his room and hid himself from the world, not daring to come out. Afraid of the judgment that came with it.

When Jazzy came in and saw his odd clothes and different hair and eyes she screamed and ran to her parents. Danny hid under his bed, he didn't want to scare anybody, he just wanted his family back.

Jazzy's parents came in, they looked through the room and tried to find Danny, when the woman looked under the bed. Danny scrambled away, trying to hide himself but the woman pulled him out by his leg.

She had a kind smile, he stopped crying, now only sniffing. She cradled him and told him everything would be alright. That she didn't care that he was half ghost, that she adopted him for him. Danny smiled, happy now his new family accepted him for was he now was.

But again the happiness only lasted so long.

...

Fast forward A year and a half later, Danny was five.

He was messing around with Jazzy, he held a stuffed bear and was floating just out of reach of Jazzy who jumped up to reclaim her toy. They were both giggling, enjoying the game, when they heard the doorbell ring. Danny floated down and Jazzy ran to get her parents.

Jazzy's mother opened the door and a bald man with a white suit was in the doorway. They exchanged hello's and he stepped in. He was tall and his face was sour, but once he saw Danny a snake-like smile split his face. Danny shrank back, not liking that man one bit.

Jazzy's dad came in too, talking loudly like always, no one noticed the man in white grab a gun behind his back. Danny did though, he tried to shout a warning but the man whipped out his gun and three bullets embedded themselves into Danny's new family.

Three bodies hit the floor, Maddie and Jack looking at each other with shock etched into their faces. Jazzy was looking at Danny, her bear still in her now lifeless hands.

Danny stood frozen to the spot, not fully registering what just happened. The man in white grabbed his arm and shoved him in a small confined space.

In a mad rush of events he had the collar, the muzzle, then he saw red. Next came the cores, all the floating yellow and red cores, trapped in the cycle he learned quickly.

His life was on a fast track, all the experiments and beating were done in quick succession. A scalpel impaled him here, a fist connected with his face there. A robot smashed his head against the floor, a gloved fist buried itself in his gut. Whip marks fresh and bleeding rubbed with salt, agonizing pain as they dissected him alive.

GIW agents surrounded him, all of them with sick smiles and some type of weapon in their hands, Bruce was with them. He was the worst one of them all. He beat him black and blue, breaking every bone in his body. His core was contorted into a booger yellow, streaked with red.

Danny wanted to believe it was someone else, that Bruce would never do this. But the pain felt all too real. He wasn't sure what was reality, and what was nightmare.

All he knew was pain.

But it wasn't over yet.

A swirling green mist surrounded Danny, he stood unharmed and confused. The wind shoved his white hair around, he could clearly see the green swirls, purple rectangles were also in the mix, they looked like doors. He frowned at the void of green and purple, when he heard someone shouting.

"Danny!" the voice was faint and sounded urgent, almost like a harsh whisper. It was like it was coming from all directions, he couldn't pin point where it was coming from.

Danny's head swiveled around to the source of the voice, but saw nothing but green mist. He was suddenly cold, he shivered, so cold his breath fogged in the air. He wrapped his arms around himself and squinted into the distance.

There. A shadow of a person, at least, it looked like a person, its legs were all wonky. The shouting grew louder.

"DANNY!"

-0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0-

Danny woke up with a blood curdling scream.

His body was on fire, his limbs tangled in the soft mesh of blankets. A cold sweat made his body slick as he tumbled out of bed, terrified of the punishments for screaming.

He landed on the floor with a thud, his foot still caught in the sheets. He kicked it away and wiggled himself under the bed, taking solace in the shadows. His breathing was shaky, his eyes wide, darting left and right at a pace only known to panic.

That was the worst dream yet, the images filled his mind, consuming his thoughts. Blood, GIW, guts, pain, robots, GIW, ...Bruce...

thump thump thump creeeeeeak...

Bruce, in his pj's, scanned the room for Danny, finding the covers of the bed thrown chaotically around like they're had been a struggle. Acting on instinct (not to mention previous experiences with Dick), the vigilante walked to one side of the bed and looked down, getting on his belly to see under the bed.

Danny squeaked and shuffled away when he saw him, not seeing Bruce, but a GIW agent. His body burned with pins and needles, sweat made him cold, and his mind was numb with terror.

"Hey, hey, Danny it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you." He said softly, he sat back up to give Danny some space.

"Did you have a nightmare?" He asked innocently. Danny didn't do anything, afraid that if he did his world would fall apart.

"I figured you would, do you want to talk about it? Sometimes that helps." Bruce said with some hope edged into his voice. Danny was staring at him with unfocused, shaky eyes, his mind going fifty million miles per hour replaying the nightmare in his head. If his mind went any faster he was sure he would scatter into millions of pieces, dust in the wind, gone, invisible like the ghost he was. The halfa watched Bruce's every move, scrambling backwards when he felt threatened, which was every time the man breathed.

He watched but could not hear, the sound of his blood rushing through his ears too loud for him to make out any words. Danny was frozen, his body still shaking like he was freezing, his mind stuck in terror.

"Do you want to get back in bed? It's still kinda late." Bruce offered. Danny's vision flashed white, Bruce was wearing the GIW suit.

His nightmare became a reality. Danny's world collapsed.

Danny sat there unmoving, unblinking, but shuddering like leaves in the wind. Danny hugged his knees to his chest, there was a dull pain where his injuries were but he ignored it.

"Danny?" Bruce tried kindly, the boy needed to calm down.

He acquired no response.

"Danny?" He tried again, this time a little more worry edging into his voice.

Silence.

"Danny can you hear me?" Bruce asked somewhat sternly, he didn't want to scare the kid more than he already was but this was important.

Danny was having a full on panic attack.

His breathing was shallow, his chest seized up and his throat closed. The shaking grew worse as his limbs decided to have minds of their own. His mind was blank, only fear was left, it was consuming him.

The vigilante blew out his cheeks in an attempt to calm himself. Panicking would not help Danny, he needed to calm the boy down and he needed to do it NOW. The vigilante looked under the bed again and saw Danny had his mouth open but no sound came out. He was convulsing and trembling, he was trying to breathe but it wasn't working his green eyes were unfocused and wide, but the pupils were dilated to minuscule proportions.

Bruce grabbed Danny's leg and dragged him out from under the bed.

Danny went limp in his arms, Bruce sat him up and patted his back, occasionally making circles, trying to get his lungs to refill. For a few tense seconds that seemed like hours, nothing changed except some jerking limbs and strangled squeaks coming from the traumatized boy.

With one final pat, air flooded Danny's lungs.

He gasped as air returned, he held a fist to his chest and coughed, his lungs burning from the lack of oxygen. He was extremely dizzy and tired, breathing hurt but he needed it.

Once Danny got his bearings he realized how close he was to GIW Bruce, he jerked away but didn't get very far when his limbs gave out under him. He hugged the bed post at the foot of the bed, body still quivering. He silently cried as he tried to not panic, even though he was literally living his nightmare.

"Danny? Calm down, Danny. It's alright, you're safe now. I won't hurt you, no one is going to hurt you." Bruce said slowly, he wanted to make sure his words got through to the scared halfa.

Danny's eyes flicked to Bruce, recognition flashed across his face and his tense position deflated. Bruce's core lost its yellow and red and returned to black, but with a considerable amount of purple swirling in between. The white haired halfa hung his head and he breathed more easily, he sniffed and realized his whole body stung, especially his wounds.

Danny crawled over to Bruce and hugged his middle, his face pressed up against the vigilantes shirt. Bruce, again stunned, was delayed in his reaction. He looked down at the broken boy in his arms, hoping he could fix what ever had just happened. Bruce laid a hand on Danny's back and another on his head, fluffy white hair peeked out between his fingers. When Bruce realized (not for the first time) that Danny was filthy, he would need a shower soon.

"Are you better Danny?" Bruce murmured, he wanted to give the boy sufficient cool down time before asking him things but knowing if he was better than before was necessary.

Danny shuddered as his breathing got easier and shook his head, simultaneously burying it deeper into Bruce's shirt. "Ok, we don't have to talk about it but I need to know what I can do so this doesn't happen again." Danny nodded and curled up in Bruce's lap, never letting him go.

Danny took a breath before starting, already feeling odd because he could actually tell someone. "G-G-I-... A-ag-agents..." Danny stuttered, at first not able to say the GIW purely because he was afraid of it.

Bruce listened intently and patiently, waiting for the boy to continue, panicked people often just needed someone who would listen without feeling disregarded or pitied.

Danny struggled to find the english words. "I-I-I see th-th-them... you-you we-were on-one of... th-the-the-them." His crying renewed with fervor and he hugged onto Bruce with surprising strength. Bruce noticed that he had a distinct Romanian accent but filed it away for later.

"It's ok Danny, I'm not a GIW agent, I would never hurt you." Bruce said, putting a calming hand on his back. Danny seemed so small and fragile in his hands, like a vase so easily broken into a million shards.

But the child held on so tightly, holding onto his lifeline, filled with determination to overcome.

Neither of them noticed the 13 year old watching from the doorway.