Consequences

My brilliant idea to stop by Jack's house for a little surprise visit on Daniel was seeming more and more like an awfully terrible decision as I sat there in the Fentons' living room listening to that blasted man ramble on about ghosts.

I stifled a sigh as I looked around the room, my eyes lingering on Maddie as she listened tentatively to her husband; managing to not growl I looked at the other person in the room, Jasmine. She was currently sitting on the arm chair reading a book, obviously ignoring the rantings of her father. The only person of the Fenton family who was not present was young Daniel, which was the only reason I even bothered to drop in.

I looked at my wristwatch, not bothering to be discreet about it; it was half past eleven at night. Where the blazes could that child be? I didn't really have to think too hard about the question; the boy was obviously out fighting ghosts. This was the only reason he would be out past curfew on a school night.

My theory strengthened when I saw Jasmine looking at the grandfather clock in the room with worried eyes. Ah, the sister was concerned for her little brother. How quaint.

I had to admit, I was quite surprised when I recently learned of Jasmine's knowledge about the condition of Daniel's thus my condition as well. She was quite intelligent for her age. You would think that I should have an interest in her instead of her brother, but this would be wrong, of course. While Jasmine had a lot of promise with her superior intellect and high social ranking among her peers, Daniel was the true prize. Although Daniel was rough around the edges, stubborn, and strong willed (the worst combination, if you ask me), he could be a lot of use to me. Having him under me as my loyal son would be the ultimate accomplishment. His cleverness and strong power was far more superior to the meek qualities of Jasmine. Daniel will make a fine trophy for my collection.

I smiled to myself, thinking of the bumbling idiot's face in front me when Daniel "decides" to leave him; that is the only thing keeping me from jumping up and killing the man right now.

Jack's ramblings came to an abrupt halt as the front door opened and shut; bringing everybody's attention to the front of the house where the youngest Fenton was standing.

There was something off about the boy. He looked completely and utterly exhausted as his body seemed to slump even more. His usually bright sapphire eyes were dim looking as if a gem lost its lust; heavy bags were under them as they looked up tiredly at the staring family. He was holding his left side very tightly; no doubt he was covering his injury under that black sweatshirt he was wearing. His legs were shaking as if he was about to fall over any minute.

The boy was obviously out fighting ghosts; my theory was sadly confirmed.

The young hybrid's gaze lingered on Jasmine; his eyes becoming intense as he smiled encouragingly at her, trying to tell her silently that he was okay. The girl's only response was her biting worriedly on her lip and unshed tears forming.

I seemed to be the only one who caught this exchange as Jack and Maddie walked to their son to welcome him home.

"Hey, Danny! Look who's here!" Jack exclaimed.

Daniel broke eye contact with his sister to scan the room; his eyes narrowed and the smile faded when he saw me, sitting on the couch in his living room. I smirked at him smugly, enjoying the sight of his wrath building up behind those baby blue eyes. They seemed to spark and become alive again, breaking free from his fatigue.

"Come on, Danny! Let's go in the living room; you just came in at the perfect time. I was talking about my latest invention, and I'm sure you want to hear all about it!" Jack said excitedly as he took Daniel by the side, his arm snaking around the boy as he tugged him towards the room. Daniel gave a small yelp of pain as he clenched his side, teeth grinding, eyes closed tight.

Everybody froze as the room became deathly silent; the only sound was Daniel's heavy breathing. He was trying to keep his pain under control, not wanting to give his parents any reasons to worry. I looked at the boy with concern of my own as he struggled to regain composure. Within minutes, he straightened as much has he could, pain still in his eyes, as he gave his father a weak smile. "Sorry, Dad. I'm not feeling so great. Is it okay if I go upstairs?"

The boy suddenly looked even more tired as if the only thing he wanted to do was sleep.

Jack and Maddie looked at their son worriedly, completely oblivious to what was truly wrong.

"Okay, son. Go to your room and take it easy," Jack said sympathetically.

"Call us if you need anything," Maddie cooed as she reached down to place a comforting hand on her son's cheek.

Daniel smiled up at her. "Okay, Mom."

With one last glare at me and another reassuring glance towards Jasmine, he began to slowly ascend the stairs, dragging his feet. Maddie and Jack came back into the room, taking their former places. The oblivious idiot continued his speech while Maddie glanced ever so often at the place where Daniel once occupied; only I could hear the small panting of the younger hybrid as he laboriously lugged up the stairs.

A frown replaced the smirk on my face as I thought more of Daniel's condition. How much trouble could he have possibly gotten into? Judging by the never ending list of his enemies, a lot.

Shortly after the door to Daniel's room slammed shut, I excused myself from the house, claiming it was getting late and my limo was waiting for me; but little did they know, I had other intentions on the matter of my wanting to get out of the house.

Once the coast was cleared, I quickly turned into Plasmius and went both intangible and invisible, shooting through the Fenton household until I found Daniel in his room.

He was stumbling towards his dresser, looking highly off balance, seeming like he was going to black out any minute. The only noise in the room was the boy's heavy breathing as he lugged his way to the nearby dresser.

I barely managed to restrain myself from going to him and holding him steady. The only thing stopping me was Daniel's apparent disdain for me, knowing full well he would not want me to be here let alone help. So I stayed in this very spot, watching the heart quenching scene.

He leaned heavily on his dresser for support, stopping momentarily to bite back a cry of pain as he clenched his side. His body was shaking all over from the strain as he continued to move towards the wall opposite from him. Daniel collapsed once he reached it, raising a shaking hand to the wall, going intangible, and pulling out a small first aid kit. He shakily took out the bandages, laying them out on the floor. Taking a deep, strained breath, Daniel started to take off his sweatshirt, only to stop, biting back another cry of pain.

It took a complete five minutes for the boy to fully take off his sweatshirt, and all the while I was painfully aching to help assist him. Biting my lip, I gazed at the tattered boy in front of me. His shirt was in shreds and covered in crimson blood. With a grunt of pain, Daniel took it off as well.

I somehow managed to suppress a gasp. A huge wound was bleeding excessively on his left side, the side of which he was holding when he first appeared in the house; flowing blood covered the top part of his jeans. It must have been very deep, but it was hard to tell because of the excessive amounts of blood spewing out. I tore my eyes away from the injury, gazing at the rest of the boy.

After I analyzed the rest of his body, I sadly concluded that he had more injuries to add. Three broken rib bones; and to add to that, bruises and scrapes covered most of his torso and arms, too many to count, accompanied the gaping hole in his side.

What on earth did Daniel get himself into?

I unconsciously took a step towards him, too concerned to fully comprehend what I was doing; but I remained invisible. Again, reminding myself of the boy's distaste for me. I would only make it worst. And, I honestly didn't want to witness an even worse situation than this.

Daniel collapsed on his hands and knees, panting heavily, eyes tightly shut. I raised my hand wanting to comfort him but stopped the very motion.

The younger hybrid continued this way for another five minutes until he somewhat straightened and began to take the bandages he laid out before him.

With small gasps, strangled cries, and deep, gasping breaths, the boy somehow managed to straighten his ribs to heal right and wrap all of his injuries. When he finished, he looked more like a mummy than a half ghost.

At least the bleeding has stopped...I chanted to myself. This phrase was the only thing holding me back from scooping up the younger hybrid and taking him away to my mansion where he would get the proper care he needed; but even though this stopped me from doing such a thing, it didn't fully stop the wanting to do the very action. The boy was obviously in extreme pain, and that alone almost broke my resolve.

Daniel was, now, on his hands and knees once more; but this time, he was trying to get up into standing position. His arms were shaking uncontrollably along with the rest of his body as his face became distorted with pain. Finally, his arms gave out as he ungracefully dropped to the floor; he bit back another painful cry as he clenched his side tightly, trying to make the torture go away.

I took another step towards him. That's it; I was not going to just stand here and watch him suffer. I didn't care if he hated me; I am going to help him whether he likes it or not!

Just when I was about to turn visible and help the boy, I heard a small knock on the door. There could only be one person that would knock at one in the morning on her brother's door, Jasmine.

"Don't come in," Daniel's hoarse voice echoed throughout the quiet room. He was obviously trying to hide the pain in his voice from his sister, but failing miserably. The boy was a terrible actor.

She didn't hesitate to come right in anyway. If I was in her shoes, I would have done the same. Closing the door, she looked wide eyed at her brother's crumpled form on the floor.

"Danny," she gasped as she sprinted towards him.

"Danny, are you okay?" she asked softly, caressing his cheek, trying to comfort him. Something I was moments away from doing.

Tears started to form in the girl's eyes as she stared at her little brother's torso; the blood was already showing through the bandages.

"Jazz, I'm fine," Daniel took a strangled breath; talking at the moment seemed to be difficult for him, "Don't worry; it's okay."

Ha! He was comforting her. The boy's selflessness would never cease to astound me. Here he was almost bleeding to death, crumpled on the floor in complete and utter pain, and he was comforting her! I was beginning to wonder if he had any self preservation at all?

These were one of the many things that frustrated me to no end; I sometimes wondered if the boy even cared if he died as long as his loved ones were safe. Daniel was always so hard-headed; taking care of other people when he should clearly take care of himself first.

"Danny! Stop that. I know you are not alright, and you shouldn't be even saying that. You are not fine; you're hurt, bad," Jasmine said nearly hysteric.

"Jazz, I'm fine. Don't worry, I'll heal," Daniel gave his sister a weak smile, trying to mask the pain in his cloudy blue eyes.

Jasmine gave him a weak glare, which soon melted into panic, "No, you are not fine, what if that ghost was going to finish you off? Danny, you could have been killed-"

"But I wasn't," Daniel interrupted quickly; playing the selfless hero role once more. "Don't worry; it was just Skulker."

"Skulker did this to you? But, I thought you said he was easy to beat?!" Jasmine yelled in hushed tones; her tears now pouring freely down her face.

"Yes, he usually is; but it seems like he got upgraded with some new tech. He somehow had my ecto signature programed in the new blades of his," Daniel said thoughtfully. Seeing his sister's hysteric face, Daniel quickly added, "Jeez, Jazz, don't have a panic attack. It won't happen again; I figured out how to get rid of them. This," he pointed at his side, "was just a lucky shot. Some people were in danger. And, well it was either let them be squished or take a blade to the side. Obviously I picked the second."

He gave his sister a goofy smile.

Was he seriously trying to make a joke out of this? And, the boy had the nerve to question my mental state. Apparently, his wasn't doing any better. Why was he so reckless; that blade could have killed him!...

My silent ranting came to an immediate halt; wait, did he say blades? He said he was fighting Skulker as well...That meant Skulker was using the blades I gave him yesterday. I only gave them to him because of our agreement to be allies, but I never meant for him to almost kill the boy!

Guilt hit me with full force as if I suddenly ran into a mental wall. I was the one responsible for this? I was the one who put this boy in so much pain; pain that I couldn't even bear to watch? I wanted to protect this boy from whoever did this to him, and all along it was me.

Shame consumed me, giving my grief company. How many times have I caused this boy pain indirectly? How many nights did I keep him out fighting just because of more poor choices such as this? How many wounds did I inflict unintentionally?

From that moment on, I realized that my actions did have consequences; and they weren't always directed towards me but towards Daniel as well. How could he ever be my son when all I did is hurt him?

Jasmine helped her brother to his bed with him heavily leaning on her shoulder. They had to stop a couple times in order for the boy to catch his breath.

When she left, I silently walk up to the boy's sleeping form. His jet black hair was even messier than it usually was, partly covering his closed eyes. His breathing was a little more laborious than usual; but other then that, he seemed peaceful in his sleep. I look down smiling at this remarkable child in front of me, letting the guilt and shame take hold of me once more.

I knelt down, stroking the boy's cheek comfortingly, and whispered, "For now on, the consequences for my actions will only be for me and never inflicted upon you again. I promise, my little badger."

A/N I editted this, so most of the mistakes should be gone, thank goodness.