An important note before we begin. All chapters of Wonderwall have coincided with those of Reflections. Except, this one! If you are looking for the piece that coincides with the epilogue of Reflections, check out my one-shot Better Than Me. This chapter is entirely different from any of the chapters of Reflections; it's actually setting the stage for Invincible.

It was the Saturday after Sam had left town and I awoke to my family's voices. I usually slept like the dead so Mom, Dad, and Jazz were putting no effort to keep their voices down. It was rather stupid of them, considering that they were discussing me. Usually, I would roll over, shove my head under my pillow, and tune them out, regardless of whether or not they were discussing me. However, I couldn't do that this time. Rather, I lay on my back and studied my ceiling, still covered in the glow in the dark stars Mom had pasted there when I was about seven.

"Jazzy," Mom questioned my sister, "Are you sure that Danny's all right?"

"Of course," Jazz assured Mom, even though Jazz knew better than anyone that I was most certainly not all right.

"We're worried," Dad confessed. "He's just not actin' himself."

"Danny's been weird ever since he hit puberty," Jazz said, snarky with her tone.

"Jasmine," Mom scolded lightly. "That's your little brother. He's been staying in bed all of the time except for at night. I'll get up in the night to use the bathroom and his bed will be empty. I worry about where he goes and what he does."

"I wouldn't," Jazz said, though I knew that she didn't have many excuses left to use on just why our parents shouldn't worry about me.

"Why?" Dad pressed. "What do you know that we don't?"

"Look, it's just the fallout over the Paullina thing," Jazz blurted.

Even from a floor above her, I could tell that her lying was horrible. Her voice shook the entire time she said the fib. Still, my parents weren't in the habit of distrusting Jazz and would probably chalk up the tremble to the fact that she was selling out her sibling. If my voice had shook while I was telling them a story (though I had perfected the art of lying when Phantom entered my life) I would have been served the Spanish inquisition. Jazz got off scot-free.

"Fallout?" Mom shrieked.

"What do you mean by 'fallout'?" Dad asked.

"Well, you know how the kids at school acted around Paullina. I guess things have just been different since he's been back. And they were together for a while; I think he misses her a little."

I had thought about Paullina since I had broken up with her. She had disappeared from school and even Starr hadn't heard from her. Surprisingly, my popular group of friends hadn't abandoned me since the messy break-up between their queen and me. In a weird twist of fate, Kwan, Starr and everybody seemed to be supporting me. I had gotten several comments that 'Paullina was beautiful but she was too fucking mental for anyone to deal with'. I still had my friends at school, though Tucker was still absent. I saw him sometimes, at the end of the hall with Mikey or other people we'd associated with before we became popular.

"I think that he's stressed over his grades too," Jazz continued. "His tutor recently moved away and I think he's worried over what that means for his academic life."

I hadn't even thought about the ramifications of losing Sam: the tutor. I had been too busy being heartbroken over losing Sam: the love of my life.

"Should I go talk to him?" Mom asked. I could feel her worry, even this far away from her.

"No!" Jazz exclaimed. "I mean, he'd probably be really embarrassed that I told you guys about his problems. He talks to me, Mom, and I don't want to ruin the trust he has in me. If there's anything to worry about, I swear that I'll come to you guys but, until then, I think that you should just let him be."

"All right," Mom sighed. "Well, you best get going Jazz. I know you have things to do before lunch."

"I'll be back in time," Jazz swore and I wondered what she had to be back in time for.

I didn't remember my parents mentioning any event that we were scheduled to attend. Even more than that, events had been scarce since the Paullina spectacle. I didn't know whether this was because my parents were declining invitations or that they weren't receiving them. Either way, I didn't give a fuck. I had no intentions of attending one of those damned functions again.

When Jazz left the house, Mom and Dad picked up the conversation.

"She makes sense, Mads." Dad said, trying to be comforting. "Our girl makes sense."

"Oh, I know she does," Mom groaned. "It's just … That's our boy, Jack. I'm so worried that there's more going on here, more than Jazz is admitting to us."

"We both know that Jazz would tell us if something big were going on with Danny," Dad said. "She's too smart to keep the important things from us."

No, I mentally corrected my father; she's smart enough to keep the important things from you. I could say a lot of things about my sister but the most important one was: Jazz always had my back. There was nothing that she wouldn't do for me and I really didn't appreciate her enough.

"I suppose. But still. I see bruises on him all the time; he's hardly ever home; he's been losing his appetite lately. I feel like there's something we aren't seeing; something vital."

"You're just being overprotective," Dad comforted her. "It's what great mothers do."

I heard the sound of a kiss and instantly lost interest in the conversation. I burrowed under my blankets and hid from the world, quickly falling back to sleep where dreams of Sam were waiting for me.

(-.-)

"Rise and shine little brother!" Jazz crowed, turning on my lights and throwing my blankets off of my now-cold body.

"Why?" I mumbled into my pillow.

"We're having a lunch guest," Jazz explained, reminding me of the conversation that I had eavesdropped on this morning. "It's time for you to shower and dress so that you're ready on time."

"Ungh," I groaned into my pillow, extremely reluctant to leave my bed. "Five more minutes."

There was no point in bargaining with Jazz but I had to try.

"No," she said curtly. "I let you sleep for as long as I could. Up and at 'em, little brother."

I moaned and pushed myself into a sitting position. I had been tempted to push her a little further, see if it really was impossible to wheedle more sleep time from her, but then my mind had flashed back to Christmas morning. The last thing that I wanted was to feel her cold toes against my vulnerable skin again.

I snatched my towel off of my door and stomped to the bathroom. I took what was, probably, the quickest shower of my life. In no time, I was toweling off my hair, reeking of shampoo and soap. I wrapped the towel around my waist and went back down the hallway. I kicked my door shut behind me and noticed that Jazz had laid my clothes out on my bed.

I frowned at her choices. Dress shirt and dark pants? Who the fuck was coming over for lunch; the mayor? My frown deepened at that thought. I hoped that it wasn't the mayor. He was Paullina's father and I would rather lock myself in Walker's prison than sit through that meal.

I disregarded the nice pants that Jazz had chosen for me and instead put on a pair of non-ripped jeans. I convinced myself that it was a compromise because I was still putting on the light blue dress shirt that she had placed, wrinkle-free, against my pillows.

I was doing up the top buttons as I thundered down the stairs. I rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw our dinner guest. My heart plummeted uncomfortably. I wished that it was the mayor sitting at the kitchen table; hell, I wished that it was Paullina perched there in all of her teenaged glory. But, no. Instead, I got Vlad.

"Daniel," he greeted, his sour smile taking over his face.

I resisted the urge to spit at him. After all, Mom and Dad were still convinced that he was their friend.

"How are you?"

"Fine." I sniffed, sidling closer to Jazz who was cutting up homemade bread and laying it out on a plate.

"You didn't warn me," I hissed to her.

"I didn't know," she retorted in a low voice.

"Danny," Mom said. "Aren't you going to ask Vlad how he is?"

"How are you?" I ground out.

"Fine." He cleared his throat. "Actually, Maddie, I was wondering, would you mind if Daniel and I took a little stroll together? That is, if lunch is not going to be served immediately."

"Well," Mom puffed, checking the clock. "You were a little early, Vlad. Jack hasn't even come back yet. Lunch isn't going to be served for another half an hour, so I don't think a walk would be a problem. Provided Danny wants to go, of course."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Vlad beat me to it. "Of course he wants to," the son of a bitch said smoothly.

I glared at him as he opened the front door for me. I pushed his arm out of the way, hoping that I'd snap it but no such luck. Vlad trailed behind me as I ducked into one of the alleys close to the house. It was far enough away from Fenton Works that my family couldn't hear us, but still near civilization. The last thing I needed was to be isolated with Vlad.

"Why do you look so angry?" Vlad inquired calmly.

I crossed my arms over my chest. Vlad always rubbed me the wrong way. "Why do you look so emo?" I questioned in return. "Nice eyeliner, Vladdy."

Vlad rolled his eyes at my childishness.

"We have something to discuss."

"I don't want to discuss anything with you."

"Well you're going to!" Vlad snarled.

I rolled my eyes and stayed rooted to the spot. He seemed worked up. Vlad was incredibly good at keeping his cool, much to my annoyance and I'd never seen him quite so quick to anger. I was curious to see what had caused the change in him.

"I heard a rumour about you."

"Oh?" I raised my eyebrows, my interest peaking.

"A little ghost whispered in my ear that you're helping our paranormal friends cross to the other side." Vlad studied his fingertips for a moment. The calm edge had returned to his voice. "Is this true?"

I thought about denying it for a moment, wondering what I would gain and what I would lose if I did. I had no idea why Vlad would care if the ghosts were crossing over. From what I gathered, Vlad hated ghosts, even though he was a halfa. He'd always acted like they were beneath him.

Finally, I just shrugged and muttered. "Yeah."

Quicker than I could blink, Vlad had me shoved against the wall of the alley, the bone of his forearm digging into my windpipe uncomfortably. Vlad had flown upward a little so that my feet were dangling off of the ground.

"Why, Daniel, why?" He shouted in my face, bits of his spit splattering against my head.

Disgusted, I went intangible and dropped away from him. "Why does it matter to you anyway?" I demanded as I fell safely to the ground.

Vlad floated down to me, lips curling. "You stop that, right now," he ordered.

I ignored his request. "What's it matter to you?" I repeated, hoping that my voice sounded more forceful this time.

But like I had ignored him, Vlad ignored me.

"If you don't stop," he threatened, advancing on me, "I am going to destroy you. I will tear apart everything that makes you who you are and I will make you suffer. You stop helping ghosts cross over, little badger, or I will take you apart limb by limb."

His angry face transformed into a weak imitation of a smile.

"Now," he said, sounding more like the educated Vlad Masters rather than the angry Vlad Plasmius. "Lunch?"

I had nothing to do but follow him back to Fenton Works and vow to find out what he wanted with the ghosts.

Reminders:

Heart Of A Child: February 27th

Invincible: March 6th

And remember, we're back to one update a week after this one.

Love you all!

I don't own anything recognizable. Thanks to my betas: Forever Sky.

~TLL~