5 5

It was dark again. Too dark.

Danny's eyes stayed hooded and only cracked open slightly as he let himself float there alone in the cave. He didn't know how many days had passed, he only knew it was impossible for his dad to be alive at this point. The loss of his father penetrated the darkest depths of his soul and spread like poison threw out his person. It was hard to believe that his father, the man that had raised and taken care of him since birth, was gone. He may not have always been there when he needed him in the last few years as he got more and more into his research, but he was still his father, and he had always loved him.

It was really cold in this cave. Danny didn't understand how he wasn't dying of hypothermia right now, it had to be close to freezing. Maybe it was another side effect to the merman constantly kissing him. The white-haired creature had told him a while ago that he only did that so that he would be able to breathe underwater. It was the only reason Danny had stopped fighting it when it happened, he wasn't fond of the idea of drowning.

Still, it was freezing. Danny wished that he could have a little sun.

Oh, the sun.

Would he ever see that again? It felt like a lifetime since the last time he saw the light of day, it was starting to make him feel a little more desperate than when he first got there. It was like the only thing standing between him and insanity, was the small chance his kidnapper would ever allow him to visit the surface, even for a little bit.

Speaking of his kidnapper, a soft glow shined in from the entrance behind him.

"How's my little pet doing? Did you miss Daddy?" he teased playfully as he dragged his body to brush across Danny's torso as he swam by.

Danny's eyes narrowed at the merman, the fire in his eyes showed just how much he found Phantom's playful teasing humorous.

Phantom started humming that same pretty tune he had done back on the surface before he had dragged Danny down there, minus the hypnosis, as he swam around the human to untie his hands. He put a wad of seaweed in the kid's hand, expecting him to eat it.

Danny stretched his arms for a second before putting the seaweed in his mouth and taking a bite. He tried not to think about all the bacteria and the amount of salt that was in the disgusting raw vegetation as he chewed. Beggars couldn't be choosers, and he knew that Phantom wasn't about to start swimming around for fresh chicken just for him. This was all that he was going to be given to eat, so he had to just suck it up and chew.

He could hear the crunch of the weeds as he chewed, and tried to focus more on that noise and not think about the flavor.

Chew, chew, swallow. Chew, chew, swallow.

"Did my pet have something he wanted to ask me?" Phantom was suddenly inches from his face, allowing no room for Danny to refuse eye contact.

Danny gave the merman a salty look, even more salty than the raw weeds in his mouth that he was forced to eat.

"You're going to have to ask me for it," Phantom smirked at the irritated boy. He knew the last thing Fenton wanted to do was ask Phantom for anything politely, but he completely got off on the kid's emotions. Playing with them was the single most entertaining thing he had come across in a long while. He knew Danny wanted so bad to see the surface, and Phantom wasn't against obliging, but he was going to train the kid to ask nicely when he wanted something.

Ask and he shall receive. It wasn't rocket science, and it wasn't hard. Say nothing, and he would spend the rest of his life in the dark like a prisoner and rot.

How unnecessary.

Fenton swallowed his nasty food, regarding Phantom with as much malice as he could with tired eyes. He knew Phantom was doing this just to get on his nerves, knew that the merman was well aware of what Danny wanted, but wanted Danny to give up some of his dignity and beg.

"Like a puppy," Phantom confirmed.

Danny took a breath, anger blistering inside him and screaming for him not to do it. He has never been a beggar. Not once in his life has he ever begged for anything from someone he considered an enemy, and Danny had a lot of enemies in his life as a gay geek.

But, he wanted to see the sun so badly, and he knew that this evil creature was not going to even consider letting him if he didn't do exactly as he wanted.

Danny growled openly, baring his dull teeth. He would never beg.

Phantom smirked and shrugged, starting to make his way up and out of the cave.

How the next few hours would be spent flashed across Danny's head. He couldn't handle another few hours alone in the dark, and as if it was some sort of survival instinct, his mind screamed for Phantom to stop leaving him.

Phantom turned, just inside the entrance, and looked down at his human. He waited for his pathetic pride to diminish and allow himself to give in.

"Please," he could hear Fenton thinking it, could also tell that the human was grateful that he at least didn't need to say it out loud, "Don't leave me down here."

The desperation and the desire to sob morphed a deep hole in Danny's core. He had lost his freedom, his life, and his family because of this creature in the span of a few short days. Now he was doomed to a short life of entertaining the evil merman, however long it may be. His life was completely dependent on the merman now. If the one with white hair decided he was hungry, he would feed off Danny. It was the merman that decided if Danny breathed or not. It was him that decided if Danny ate or not. Ultimately, it was Phantom that would decide if Danny lived or not.

"Just let me go to the surface for a little bit, please." Danny swallowed his pride and begged, refusing to let Phantom see his eyes.

Phantom smiled down at the kid, baring his sharp fangs.

A second later he was again inches from Danny's face, gripping the kids raven hair tightly to force eye contact. The pain from the grip on the back of his head caused the fire to return in Danny's defeated blue eyes, and Phantom adored them.

"What's in it for me, pet?"

Danny's anger flared, both from the nickname and from what he said.

He had already taken his freedom, his dignity, his family, even his clothes! What more could he possibly want from him?

"Sing me a song." The request was simple, yet was asking so much from Danny.

The sun...

Danny knew he would do anything at this point just for some sunlight. Even for a few minutes.

Phantom smiled, and Danny's eyes landed on the razor sharp fangs. He knew that they were there, but seeing them so close to his face was unnerving.

A rush of excitement flew through Danny when Phantom undid the ankle cuff, making the corners of his mouth perk up slightly for the first time since before this nightmare began. He had been wondering if Phantom would actually let this happen, he'd had a suspicion that even if he did beg, the merman wouldn't have done anything. He thought maybe the merman had only wanted the satisfaction of seeing Danny break a little.

He was actually grateful that wasn't the case.

Phantom grabbed around Danny's waist and took him up.

Turns out, he was much farther down then he originally thought he was, but when he started to see daylight reflecting through the water and shimmering off the rocks, Danny's excitement grew, and he began to feel impatient.

The heat from the sun was unlike anything he'd ever felt.

It was warm.

It was the proof he needed that he was alive.

The breath of air he took was foreign after breathing underwater for so long, but it was welcome. The light was so bright it hurt his eyes for a brief few minutes, the sensitivity coming from spending so much time in the dark.

Phantom shoved him onto a familiar island peaking a few feet above the surface, it held so many dark memories and yet it was the first dry land he had been on for who knew how long. He wanted to kiss it hello like he and this rock were long lost lovers. He didn't however, instead, letting his body drop onto it to feel its heat.

His skin felt like it would tear if he brushed his fingers against the rock the wrong way. But, it didn't stop him from shifting into a more comfortable position facing towards the sky. He panted with his mouth open, wanting to savor the fresh air, get as much of it as possible in his system.

The sight of the baby blue sky made his vision blurry in the happiest way possible. He had taken daylight for granted before all of this and had never truly taken the time to appreciate the heat from the sun's rays until now.

It was so beautiful.

"Pet." The voice was verbal now, and the sound of it made him forget for a moment that the was being treated like an animal. He turned his head to see Phantom's smirking face as he held up a sealed water bottle, and Danny damn near thought Phantom had brought him the Holy fucking Grail. "Look what I just found."

Danny reached for it, and Phantom allowed him to grab it. The kid unsealed the lid and the second the cool water hit his parched tongue he felt almost sick from dehydration.

He set it down after a good couple gulps, deciding he should probably save the rest of that. He lay back down and sighed, soaking in the sun's rays and enjoying the much-needed warmth it brought.

Phantom watched him closely as the salt water started dripping off his bare body, adoring the creamy light tan on his human's skin. Most of the humans he had seen naked in his life always had hideous tan lines, but Danny didn't, so his body was this consistent, flawless, caramel vanilla color that he hadn't seen much of in the last couple thousand years.

"I'm waiting, precious."

Danny's eyes opened to slits, Phantom's voice was gentle, and gruff in a childish way. If Danny didn't despise the creature with every ounce of his being, then he would probably be able to say that his voice was almost hot.

Danny took a breath, knowing what Phantom wanted.

A deals a deal.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night,"

He sang it softly, not sounding half bad in his opinion.

"Take these broken wings and learn to fly, all your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arrive."

Phantom was shocked that a human could sound so nice. Danny didn't pretend to be a better singer than he actually was, he used his voice, and sounded comfortable with it.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night.

Take these broken eyes and learn to sing.

All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to be free."

Danny remembered when his mother used to sing this to him when he was younger, he knew she was a better singer but he didn't really care about that at the moment. Thinking about his mom, and the possibility that he'll never see her again, made him more depressed then he ever thought he could be. What was she doing right now? How was she coping with her husband and sons disappearance? How was she going to react when the police gave up the search and told her they were most likely dead?

"Blackbird fly,

Blackbird fly.

Into the light of the dark black night. Ohhhh oh."

Phantom put his head down, resting his cheek on his arms which were holding him half way up on the rock Danny perched on. He shut his eyes, his long black tail flapping gently in the water behind him as he listened.

"Blackbird singing in the dead of night.

Take these broken wings and learn to fly.

All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arrive."

Danny hummed as the song started to end, his body was mostly dry, except for the places the sun can't reach. He couldn't get enough of the heat though, he didn't want to close his eyes for more than half a second, he didn't know when the next time he would see the light of day would be.

If he ever saw it again.

Phantom opened his green eyes and looked at his pet when he stopped humming. He could hear that he was thinking about his mom, dad, and his sister and how much he missed them, but all Phantom could think about was how much he would miss Danny's flavor if he let him go.

The fat man had come back, despite Phantom's warning never to do so again, and he had brought a submarine and backup.

Lucky for them, the mermaids had been sleeping, all of them. If they hadn't been, he knew that they would have torn right into the sub, and Phantom's save would have been meaningless.

Stupid man.

Phantom wouldn't lift a finger to help them if they come back and the mermaids got through the subs walls.

He had his chance to live the rest of his pathetic life, and not only is he choosing to squash the opportunity down, but he also brought his wife along to die with him, and for what? A stupid kid.

Phantom would never understand why human adults cared so much for their young. That emotion they called 'love' seemed to drive them to do stupid things just to protect children.

Children were naturally stupid, careless, and unable to function without someone telling them what to do or how to live, while adults seemed to be much smarter. He didn't understand why they would risk everything just to protect one worthless child when they could just have another, and another, and another. Adults were far more important than kids because kids didn't even know how to live in the world, they couldn't take care of themselves. Yet adult humans would allow themselves to die if it meant their kids could live even one more day.

It was interesting in the most annoying way possible.

Phantom reached a hand up and gently pet the skin on the boy's cheek. What lengths would those humans go to get Danny back?

The merman considered telling the mermaids it was time to travel again but thought against it a second later. Why bother? The mermaids were masters of that game, avoid and evade. They had been doing it for thousands of years; keeping from exploiting their existence to such a primitive race.

The humans would need those ridiculous suites to go any farther than a few feet down, and the bulkiness would prevent them from being able to make it into any of the mermaids caves. He also knew they were refraining from using their rockets or guns because they are under the impression that Danny was being kept there somewhere, and wasn't willing to take the chance of taking the whole cove down on top of him. They would never find them.

Even if these things weren't true, the humans had no idea what they were up against. They think they are professional mermaid hunters, but they had no idea what exactly they were messing with.

Phantom was still petting Danny's cheek, shocked that the human didn't recoil from his touch like he usually did. His perfectly sculpted face was calm and tranquil, and the serenity Phantom could see there made the already beautiful creature even more adoring.

It was then, as Phantom stared, that he decided the kid was worth protecting for a while. Just because he was so nice to look at, his flavor was the best Phantom had in a long time, and he was naturally too remarkably entertaining to let die.

His parents wanted to take Danny away from him?

Bring it on.

They stayed like that for a couple hours, Danny hardly moved while Phantom had to periodically swim under for a minute to keep from drying out. The sun hadn't been out for too long, and only about thirty minutes after they surfaced, the sky started to get darker, going from a light sky blue to a beautiful mix of purple and yellow.

Phantom came up from one of his much-needed swims and watched Danny for a few more minutes before he reached a hand up and gently brushed the windblown raven locks off his forehead.

"What do you say when you get what you want, pet?" He spoke aloud, combing the kid's hair with his taloned fingers and smirked in satisfaction when Danny liked the feeling.

"Thank you," Danny didn't even hesitate. He was much too grateful to have gotten a good long break from the cold dark cave. He was grateful Phantom had given him hours instead of the minutes that he thought he would get.

He only hoped he would be given the privilege again.

Phantom smiled. It wasn't just a grin or even an evil smirk, it was a smile that he himself didn't even notice he had. Danny saw it though, and his first instinct was to admire it.

Phantom rolled his eyes, not sure why he smiled at all.

"It's time to go back."

Danny's face fell, but he knew he couldn't do anything about it.

Phantom backed away from the edge of the island, expecting Danny to get in.

He did.

Shivering from the cold, Danny eased himself into the water and allowed Phantom to grab ahold of him. From the way they were positioned with Phantom's arms securely around the raven's waist, Danny was forced to hold on to the merman's shoulders as the other leaned in.

The kiss was a little slower than usual, and though Danny refused to kiss back, he had to fight to not enjoy it a little. Phantom's lips were soft and practiced, and though the kiss lacked any emotion at all, it was the most tender kiss he had gotten from the creature.