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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
- 23
- 24
- 25
It's the next morning when Danny realizes that he doesn't have much to pack. Really. Logically, he knows, duh, he came to Vlad's mansion comatose on a stretcher with nothing but the hospital gown on his back. But still, he has a brief panic fit when he realizes that all he has with him is the clothing Vlad changed him into and nothing else. No shoes, no sweater, no mp3 player, nothing. He's been kept relatively busy by his new state. Learning to control one's powers has a way of eating time.
Jasmine, on the other hand, had a month's supply of clothing to pack back into the duffle bag she took from Danny's room; he's forgiven her for the misdeed. She lets him play on her phone while she packs to ease some of the frustrated energy; she'd folded everything and laid it out last night. It takes her about half an hour to pack everything. Afterwards, Danny curls up in a chair next to her bed and makes the choice to pout and glare. Jasmine doesn't stop him. Vlad knocks on the door a few minutes later, holding a new pair of socks and sneakers, a pair of blue jeans a white T-shirt with NASA printed on the front, and a constellation printed hoodie. The bundle disappears before the man can blink, with Danny literally flying through the halls to his room.
He strips out his clothing so quickly that he nearly makes himself dizzy. He redresses with the same haste...just to wear normal clothing again. Just to feel normal fabric on his skin. Just to feel normal. What Vlad had dressed him in had been made from silk. And while he had been more than comfortable, his brain is still experiencing denial, even though he doesn't recognize the denial itself, and he just wants to go back to the way things were.
The denim scrapes his skin just right. The cotton of his shirt does the same. Cheap sneakers, cheap socks, he doesn't realize Vlad's chosen his clothing so carefully, and that it'll allow him to return home as if he's just been away for a few days. The true length of time, of course, they all know. But the shroud of the lie, woven into simple common fabrics and the sense of home being nigh around the corner also does something else. Something Vlad hadn't planned on. Something he hadn't intended to cause. And something he doesn't become aware of until they're in the limo and pulling out onto the highway.
The closer they get to Amity Park, with each passing hour, Danny's core dulls in its vibrancy. And begins to tremble. Its pulsing limps and stumbles, stutters and flutters. And Vlad looks on to the child to see him fidgety and restless. Curling and uncurling his fingers over and over again. A physical manifestation of anxiety.
Vlad swallows and turns his head to look out the window. He wants to provide some comfort, but he's caught between doing so and still desiring to keep him at a distance after Frostbite's words. And the agitated energy is pouring out in thick suffocating waves, stilling his tongue and rendering him a little nervous, as well. He bites his lip. Being a spectral empath isn't all it's cracked up to be. Jasmine sits in silence, aware of her brother nearly vibrating in his seat and flatly ignoring it. It won't do her any good to dwell on the cause when she already knows what it is. There's no words she can utter to settle him down. There's many cheap shot phrases she can spout. But they're all meaningless and a waste of the effort to speak when she remembers that he's a half ghost returning home to ghost hunting parents.
Danny feels like he's about to burst. He's so worried, so nervous about returning home. He feels like a charged explosive. A hunk of C4 just waiting for that final signal. He wants to go home, but he doesn't want to go home. He wants to see his friends again. He wants to go back to normal. But it's everything else that comes with being home that he doesn't want.
The incomplete meals from new parts falling into his food.
The four and five a.m. startled wake-up calls to test fires.
His door bursting open and slamming against his dresser.
The excited shouting of explanations as a new creation is brandished in front of him.
The accidental fire that chars his ceiling.
The stench of burnt sheetrock and paint that fills his room.
Cleaning up after the trail of destruction.
Being kept up late by the explosions in the lab.
Losing sleep to the insanity of it all and being expected to just keep up.
Being expected to manage and maintain equipment he didn't build, doesn't use or won't touch.
It's all of the additional chores and micro steps that pile up on top of his day. And he has to add summer school to that stack, now. And he'll finish just in time to start up regular school again. Which means he really won't get a break. He begins to feel overwhelmed. By the time they're entering Amity Park, Danny is visibly suppressing the innate desire to scream. And Vlad wonders, as he's being soaked to the bone by a wave of pure anxiety, if this is really a good idea. Or, should he have filed for custody?
When the car stops outside of the house he's come to hate even without seeing the inside of it, the anxiety abruptly stops. Very abruptly. Like someone has flipped a switch and cut the power. Vlad looks back at the boy in shock and confusion. Danny's skin has gained a deathly pallor. His eyes have dulled and darkened. Like looking through foggy glass. The shaking has ceased. His core spins, at a steady and consistent pace, but in a drawl. They get out of the car and Danny shrivels in on himself. He somehow looks smaller, as though he's attempting to bury himself in his hoodie. He keeps his head down. Locks his jaw shut. His eyelids droop a little. All of his personality, his energy, that spark of light that makes Danny who he is runs off and hides in a cave in his head.
Jasmine opens the front door and Danny follows behind her with robotic movements. And it finally dawns on the older halfa, albeit far too late.
Danny Fenton has officially shut down, and survival mode has kicked in.
-
"Mom, I'm home!" Jasmine calls and dumps the duffel bag on the couch.
''Just a minute, sweetie! We're almost done!'' the redhead rolls her eyes. Danny slumps and flops on the couch, using the bag as a pillow and turns on the television. Vlad looks around.
The living room is comfortably furnished. The couch, with teenager draped across it, seems well worn. A few throw pillows raise Danny's sneaker clad feet. The carpet is stained with splotches of ectoplasm in various stages of decay. A second glimpse at the occupied couch reveals more stains. The television screen is slightly smudged with soot, The coffee table is covered with blueprints that sport old rings where mugs sat. There's a few bookshelves, small ones, in disarray but in use. The walls are all decorated with photos, all the way up the stairs to the second floor. A few are crooked, but none are cracked. That said, there's multiple points of charring scattered about the walls and ceiling.
Jasmine walks off to a room off the living room. The kitchen, the elder realizes. He follows her. His highly displeased with the state of the living room. He hopes the kitchen is better. When Jasmine flicks the lights on, his fangs threaten to drop.
The sink is overflowing with used dishware. He can forgive that. He's guilty of letting the sink pile up on occasion. But the cupboards are covered with char. There's even a few with holes in the wood. And through those openings, he can see there's nothing on the shelves. The wood of the kitchen table that he can see is burned in some places and slightly melted in others. The rest is piled with tools and bits of metal and rough scraps of drawings. He opens a horrifically dented refrigerator against his better judgement. Inside, there's very little. A half empty two liter bottle of soda, a gallon of expired milk, some odds and ends wrapped in foil, all mingling with test tubes and trays of slides and questionable organic matter. A few containment vessels with little blob ghost floating in them sit in the back.
Danny manifests behind him, practically out of nowhere, and leans in, opening the crisper and pulling out an apple that looks like it's almost past due in some spots. He watches the boy take a knife out of the sink, clean it, cut off the rougher spots, dump the knife back into the sink and proceed to eat it. His eyes are still fogged over as he goes back out into the living room and sits down. Vlad shuts the fridge carefully. It takes every ounce of self control to not slam it.
Jasmine leans against the counter and looks at him, arms folded against her chest. Her expression is a mix of annoyance and embarrassment. But she says nothing.
From the living room,
''Danny! You're home early. Did something happen at school?''
''No. Teachers have a meeting. So it was a half day. Early dismissal.'' Monotone and dry. There's no real strength in the words. The rise, fall and lilt of his voice just feels fake. As fake as the words themselves.
''Isn't that nice! Oh, would you be a dear and help clean up downstairs? Your father tipped over a few boxes this morning and you know he can't organize.''
''Sure, mom.'' And they both descend into the basement.
Jasmine had tilted her head to listen, and Vlad could see she wasn't about to go out there and call out her mother.
Vlad's lip curls back in a snarl. ''It's been three months!''
She shrugs, ''Not to them, it hasn't.''
''It's Saturday! It'll be June tomorrow! This isn't-! This is... This is an absolute-'' he doesn't finish his sentence. Instead, he storms out into the living room and down the stairs to the basement. It's one thing to have an idea of what goes on in the home environment. It's quite another to be slapped clear across the face with it. And the idea that Danny so easily slips back into an apparently old habit, just going along with what his parents think and answering based on that idea to achieve the best possible outcome...
The chatter between the banes of his existance ceases when he reaches the lab, and Jack and Maddie turn in surprise.
''Vlad?! Wow! It's been years! When did you-''
He holds up a hand to stop them and looks over to Danny, who was quietly packing components back into their respective boxes.
''Daniel?''
Danny startles and looks up at him. For a brief microsecond, there's that little spark of light.
''Go back upstairs. I'll just be a few minutes.''
- 23
- 24
- 25
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Kindred Spirits