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Kindred Spirits	By : RedelliaValentinos Category: +1 through F > Danny Phantom Views: 206 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, I don't own any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from writing this story, I write this purely for the enjoyment of writing. It's just me and a keyboard and my wild brain.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
They get back down to earth around dinner time. Once Danny had recovered from his sneeze, and Vlad was sure he wasn't going to make the weather any worse than it already would be, they were content to just float there in silence for a while. They only came down when Vlad heard Danny's stomach growl.
This time, he prepares a vegetable soup, and allows Danny a few pieces of bread to dip into it; he doesn't want to put him back onto a normal diet just yet. Jasmine makes sure that Danny eats slowly, still aware of his limitations. He finishes just as he's starting to drift off in his seat. Vlad catches him before he falls over.
"What's left?" She asks quietly.
Vlad carries him off to his room, his sister following in stride. "He's learned the basics. What's left, I can't teach."
Jasmine gets the door open for him. "But what's actually left to teach?"
Vlad sighs and places Danny on the bed, Jasmine pulls the covers on top of him...and watches as a sudden burst of frost coats the surface. It trails across the bedspread, down to the floor and threatens to nip at her feet. She steps away just in time.
"That," Vlad says, "That is what's left. He has no temperature control. His core is running wild, releasing cold energy at random. He needs to get a handle on it before I can send him home. If he doesn't, he could run the risk of freezing people in their tracks. Literally."
Jasmine huffs and sees her breath.
"It's going to snow tomorrow, as it is."
Here, she blinks in surprise. "It's May. It was 61°F and sunny, today.
Vlad nods. "And it'll be 20°F with a blizzard, tomorrow."
"Why?"
A light snicker escapes him. "Because he sneezed at 49,000 feet."
"...I'm sorry. What?!"
"From what I've observed," he nudges her out of the room and follows, "If his system is physically startled, as it would by sneezing, then cold sometimes escapes in force, manifesting randomly, but in force, nonetheless. If his emotions shift dramatically, it slips out as a temperature shift. And he's still healing, so the layer of ice on the bedspread could be his core reducing external temps to create a friendlier environment for him to exist and recover in."
"And when he's awake?" Jasmine asks.
"As I said. No temperature control. He's not even aware he's icing things over. He needs to be taught so he can become aware and control it better. Ideally, I'd like him reach the point where we don't have to hit the dirt whenever his nose starts to itch."
They make their way upstairs, both eager for sleep. "You can't help him?"
Vlad shakes his head. "No. If it were just a few days after the accident, that would be different. He needs someone who lives in the cold... Speaking of which, you may need to pull the weighted blanket from the ottoman in front of your bed tonight. As much as I love my home, it can get drafty during cold spells, and this won't be a normal blizzard."
Jasmine nods and they go their separate ways, his room much further down the hall than hers.
-
Danny woke to Maddie pawing at his face. He opened his eyes, and proceeded to giggle and pet her, giving extra attention to scratching her ears. She took the affection for a few minutes before jumping off the bed. He sat up slowly, allowing his spine to crack with a stretch.
Maddie yowles once from the door. "Yeah, yeah. I'm up."
It takes him some time to get to his feet and out into the kitchen, relying on the wall for support.
He finds a plate of fresh toast with avocado spread, and a note.
Eat. Slowly. Come to the study when you're done.
Danny rolls his eyes, but sits down. He was soooo tired of everyone telling him to take his time, even more tired of being watched to make sure he did so. Today, at least, no one was leaning over his shoulder. But he ate slowly, anyway. Avocado on toast always struck him as a weird concept. But as he bit into it, he found it worked. Maybe those vegetarians aren't crazy, after all. He nibbles in little bites, taking a good half hour to eat. He wants to scarf it down and go see what Vlad is doing, what he wants him for. But he notices, in a few instances where he took a few bites too close together, his stomach had started to rebel. He couldn't scarf, or he'd barf.
When he's finished, he has the good sense to put his plate in the sink and rinse it off. He wanders out to the foyer and into the library. There's a door there, that's propped open. Light is coming through, and he nudges it gently.
"Did you keep your breakfast down?"
Danny resists a second eyeroll. "Yes, mom, and I ate every last bite," he bites back.
He looks around, not familiar with the room. It's spacious, like the library, with little furniture, and the walls are lined with shelves that hold numerous books. The theme of the room is warm reds and browns with plush carpeting. In the center, a coffee table sits, with a maroon couch on one side and a red chaise on the other. There's what he recognizes to be a liquor cabinet against a wall, behind where Vlad sits at a desk, on his computer. His fingers are occupied, typing faster than Danny's ever seen, even Tucker couldn't keep up with him. Curious, he lifts off the floor gently, the room flashes briefly as he changes forms, and floats around behind him to see. He knows an email when he sees one, but the header, subject line and whatever he's typing are jumbles of letters and symbols and coding.
"Don't bother. It's encrypted," the man says softly.
''Who are you writing to?'' Danny asks, hovering over Vlad's shoulder.
Vlad gives a slight chuckle. ''Well, given that you still need to learn temperature control, I'm contacting a friend to help provide safe passage in the Ghost Zone.'' He looks back at Danny briefly, and, ah, there's that sparkle in his eyes, again.
''There's a zone for ghosts? Wait... There's more ghosts?!''
''Yes, and yes. There's an entire realm just for ghosts to roam, and there are many, many ghosts within it.'' He finishes typing and sends the email off.
''Are there more like you and me, then? Are there more half-ghosts?''
Vlad's eyes darken, just for a moment. He guides Danny down to the floor. When he's standing, Danny looks up at the man with confusion. Vlad turns to him. ''Listen to me very carefully,'' he makes sure the boy is paying attention, ''There are numerous entities within the Ghost Zone. Most of them, you must keep your distance from. Especially right now, in your condition, you wouldn't stand a chance against them. The specters in the Zone are powerful. They have their borders and boundaries. Places, lands and lines that you do not cross. As for us,'' he takes Danny's hand into his own, cradling it in his palm and letting just a little more of reality sink in, ''You and I are unique. There are no other beings like us. This condition, Daniel, is permanent. Under normal circumstances, ghosts do eventually fade. But...''
''We're not normal.'' Danny responds softly.
Vlad gives his hand a squeeze, ''No,'' and he lets go.
''So, who were you messaging?''
''Someone who can protect you in the event that I can't. He should be here soon. He's a bit moody, but you should get along just fine.''
Danny floats over to the chaise and sits. He doesn't notice it, but as he touches the fabric, a layer of frost coats the piece of furniture, with him as the epicenter. It quickly covers the whole chaise and drifts down to the floor.
The elder halfa does notice. He's not thrilled. With the sudden freezes random and intermittent, his furniture has suffered slightly under Danny's presence. After another few minutes, Vlad comes over to join him. Instead of sitting, however, he starts wiping the frost off the surface of the chaise.
"Why are we going?" Danny asks, not paying attention.
Vlad points. "Look out the window."
Danny turns his head and looks. And his eyes widen. It's a large window, first of all. About as tall as Vlad. And half of it is obstructed by thick white snow.
"Whoops."
"You are a walking winter storm, and you need to learn to control your core so that you don't spawn a natural disaster. Or worse, an ice age."
"Why can't you teach me?" The man's already taught him so much.
Just as he's finished stripping the thin layer of ice off where he wants to sit, a fresh layer recoats the seat. Vlad gives up. "I could have if your abilities had developed more slowly," he chooses to sit across from the boy, on the couch instead, "The time to teach you would have been within a few days of the accident. Obviously, you weren't in a state to be taught. This is why your powers are bombarding you all at once. Had you been conscious, you would have had more time while your core grew."
"Oh." Danny feels...guilty, suddenly. Guilty for making things difficult. Guilty for being unconscious. Guilty for having gotten into this mess in the first place. And he feels guilty for having forced Vlad to sit on the couch.
Vlad hears his tone and catches the dimming of light in his eyes. "It's not your fault, Daniel. It just means you need a different teacher, that's all. It's by no means impossible to deal with. But I recognize that I can't help you, and I know someone who can."
Danny gives a rather meager shrug. "I know. I just feel like this all could have been avoided."
Vlad tilts his head in thought. "Maybe not." His death was slow. He began with a brief, sudden exposure to concentrated ecto-energy. However, it was a very low amount. He wasn't dead right away. Things were slow. His abilities manifested over years as opposed to days. It makes him wonder how long minor, regular exposure would take to do the same thing. If he knows Jack, it's highly likely that Danny was already being exposed to small amounts of ecto-energy on a regular basis. And if minor enough of an exposure, it could take decades to create the present scenario. But, with that logic, the Fenton parents would be next in line for this fate. Unless...
"How do your parents manage their exposure to ecto-energy?" Vlad asks.
Danny blinks. "They don't get exposed. They're always wearing protective suits. And they always go through decontamination. And I know, because I'm always the one putting their stupid suits in the wash. Jazz is kind of a germaphobe. She won't even touch their stuff. She won't go near the basement unless she has to, and she won't go near them until she's gotten them to shower after decon. Twice."
Vlad pinches the bridge of his nose with a groan. He can calculate her exposure from there, and it means Jasmine has been fussy and controlling enough to keep her own subjection to damn near zero, and Danny's been getting doses of what is essentially ghost radiation regularly. The variables matter. The time it would take to expose Jasmine to enough ecto-energy to alter her genetics, at her hyper-controlled rate of exposure, would have her dead five times over before even the first inkling of a problem.
"Whoa."
Vlad looks up. Just in time to see a whisp of blue smoke escape Danny's mouth. The boy coughs and shudders, feeling a chill run up his trachea. "What was that?"
"That would be your ghost sense," Vlad smirks, "It'll tell you when a ghost is coming near."
"So why doesn't it go off around you?"
"Because there's a specific range of detection. I've been within range of you for weeks."
"So, if it's going off, then that means..."
"There's another ghost nearby. You'll get used to it."
Danny seems to become nervous from there. Suddenly faced with meeting a real ghost, not another half ghost like Vlad, he's unsure of himself. After another few minutes, though the door is still propped, a knock comes, and Danny presses himself into the back of the chaise, attempting to hide from view.
"Come in, Skulker," Vlad urges.
- 14
- 15
- 16
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Kindred Spirits