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Kindred Spirits Complete	By : RedelliaValentinos Category: +1 through F > Danny Phantom Views: 507 -:- 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
- 16
- 17
- 18
It takes significant convincing to get Danny to come down the stairs voluntarily. But a good hold on an earlobe proves effective, even on a half dead child. Once they get there, Danny sees that Vlad's lab is nothing like his parents' lab. It's much larger, and cleaner and organized. There's adequate lighting. And while there are several tables, none are intended for holding down the prize of a ghost hunting trip. Instead, they're covered in multiple pieces of equipment. Microscopes of varying strengths. Analysis and scanning. Magnifying lenses and dozens of small sample slides. And it's all neatly arranged.
There's a few papers out of place, and some blueprints laid out. But overall, it strikes Danny as an actual lab. One meant for research and study. Not the crazed hyper antics of a duo of obsessive and neglectful nut jobs. There's even hunks of equipment and weaponry that he faintly recognizes, simply more sleek and practical versions of the tech he's known his parents to build. And there's a distinct lack of the acidic acrid stench of dry-rotting ectoplasm. The floor is mopped and clean, practically a mirror. The walls boast photos and mounted tools and guns instead of black charring and scorch marks.
The contrast between the two labs, to Danny, is frightening.
At the back of the lab, behind a clear blast sheild, an octagonal doorway that he recognizes. Again, more refined, more sleek. But he recognizes the design. Even the bolts in the frame are in the same arrangement. And it's open. And active.
"You want me to go through that?!" Danny shouts, pointing at the swirling green doorway.
Skulker looks down at him in confusion. "It's just a portal. What's the problem?"
Vlad sighs and pinches between his eyes.
Danny backs up. "No way! I am not going in that!" Fear is plastered all over his face, all of the color has drained from his skin.
"You're going, wether you like it or not." Skulker gives him a hard shove forward.
"The hell I am!" Danny bolts away, out of the lab and up the stairs.
The hunter holds his arms out in confusion. "What's his problem? It's just a portal!"
Vlad groans and finally looks up. "I hadn't forgotten, I just wasn't prepared for it to be an issue."
Skulker's eyes narrow. "Didn't prepare for what to be an issue?"
The man waves him off. "It's complicated. I'll go get him."
-
The manor has them close enough that Vlad's ghost sense never triggers. Which means he can't tell when he's getting closer to finding his ward. He finds Danny after half an hour, hiding on the roof of the manor. Curled into a ball, in a hole dug into the snow and shaking. It breaks Vlad a little more, as if he hadn't been tested enough.
"Daniel," he sits down despite the chill.
The boy says nothing in response. He just tenses more and continues to shake. Vlad sits next to the divot in silence and looks up. It's still snowing out, but there's a distinct vortex surrounding them, whipping sharply and holding steady.
He can imagine what's running through the child's mind. Trapped in echoes of memory and searing pain, going through the coin toss. Hearing comatose conversations on repeat. Waking up and looking for his mother. Like a broken record, over and over again. Silver tossed in the air that won't stip spinning. He resists the urge to reach out and brush his hand through his hair, aware that if he touches Danny, his hand will be frozen in an instant.
Vlad observes Skulker phasing through the roof, who looks at him quizzically. Vlad holds a finger to his lips, telling him to be quiet, and then points up.
The vortex concerns the hunter, and draws him out further to inspect it.
They linger for a while. Silently. Afraid that if any noise comes, they'll be swept away by the child's emotions.
It takes time. Several hours. Through the walls of flurrying ice and snow, Vlad can see the sun beginning to set. Skulker is scanning the weather pattern for information.
"Daniel," Vlad says softly.
The walls stutter a little and loose some speed. It starts to wind down. The vortex starts to thin. The walls start to disperse. Vlad looks down at the smaller body to find it still curled tightly into a ball. But Danny's eyes had settled, have become half lidded and tired. When the last streaks of sunset finally pierce the sluggish and dying swirls of the vortex barrier, he finally reaches a hand down and brushes through deathstruck locks.
"For your own sake, we have to go into the Ghost Zone, and I can assure you that unlike your parents' portal, mine is stable." He doesn't get a response. Perhaps, he decides, a distraction is necessary. He looks down at the boy and back up at the hunter. Suddenly, it occurs to him that he's never shown Danny his ghost half. He's made it clear that they're the same, he's flown, and taken him up into the stratosphere. But never has he actually exposed his other side.
''Skulker,'' he calls softly and the ghost turns his head slightly, ''Go on ahead. I'll be down in a bit.''
Skulker looks down at the shuddering mass curled into a fetal position. He doubts it, but gives a grunt and phases down through the roof.
Vlad gently wrangles the boy into his lap, not meeting much resistance. It's easy getting him situated, wrapping him tightly in his arms and allowing his warmer body temperature to relax him. Danny feels numb, but not from the cold. The fluttering of sounds and conversations have passed, he's mostly just drained and unsure of how to move forward. He doesn't want go through a portal again. But he's aware that he has to.
Vlad quietly grasps one of Danny's hands, carefully interlocking their fingers. He's suddenly aware of just how young the boy is by the difference of their hands. The youngling halfa is a puny, pathetic little thing in comparison. He hopes that'll change. He hopes he'll grow. Reaching down into his core like he has so many times, he feels a rush of heated energy, electrifying his bones...
The flash of light doesn't draw his attention right away. He barely registers it. But as he sits in the comfortable embrace, his notices the air warming slightly. His eyes drift lazily across the skyline and then down to his hand where he feels particularly concentrated warmth...and the hand holding his is not human.
It's a darkened teal. A white sleeve with black trim and a loop wrapped around the middle finger. And nails that are elongated and sharp. He startles a little, pulling away to turn and look at the man.
Danny will always recognize him, no matter the form he takes. Vlad's hair is ashen sooted black, framing his face and draping down behind his shoulders. A few fly-aways hang in front of his face, and his beard is the same black, but with a stripe of white in the middle. Pearly white fangs hang over his lower lip. Horns jut out from his skull, one on each side, kinking twice and reminding the boy of a dragon. They're the same color as his skin, deep teal. He wears a white tunic with a black belt, and a black collar covers most of his neck and down over his collarbones. Where his arms would meet his torso, a white cape frames his shoulders with black trim and trails down behind him.
Vlad remains quiet as Danny opts to draw closer, hyperfocused on his eyes. All red. Nothing else. No pupils to see, no white, no blue, nothing Ieft to discern that the man is at least partially human. The younger halfa reaches a hand up, almost shy in his approach. His fingertips brush an inhuman cheekbone. Despite the warmth emanating from within his form, Danny finds that Vlad's flesh is reminiscent of stone. It's soft, but seemingly more firm than usual. So, Danny thinks, closer to a gargoyle. But not without its...charm? Is charm even the right word? Something stirs in his chest, something new. Something strange. He finds it too confusing to understand and packs it away for later.
Vlad senses some apprehension as Danny pulls away. "You're handling this remarkably well."
Danny doesn't respond...at first. He heard him, he's just unsure of how to express how he feels about Vlad showing this side of himself. But it certainly explains the unearthly rumble he heard him give the night he first woke. It was a foreign sound, because Vlad is foreign to humans, now. And that spawns the sudden clarity that Danny may never fully fit in ever again. No matter where he goes, he'll always be set apart from the rest of the world.
"I'm gonna be out of place everywhere."
And Vlad tilts his head in thought. "That depends on what your final form will be. The shape you take now may be temporary. But I get the feeling that, where we are going, you'll fit right in." He gently takes a smaller hand into his own and stands, prompting the boy to follow suit. "Are you willing to humor me, now?"
"Do I have a choice?"
VIad chuckles. "If my furniture weren't on the line, you might. I'll throw you through if I have to."
Danny swallows and nods. "Okay."
He's able to lead him back down to the lab from there. They get to the portal, with its hypnotizing swirls of green and violet, and Vlad looks back at him. "I'll go through first," he gives Danny's hand a light squeeze, "Don't let go."
- 16
- 17
- 18
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Kindred Spirits Complete