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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
- 25
- 26
- 27
Despite being able to and having worked with Danny and Jasmine, Vlad is not well versed in dealing with children. The Fenton siblings are teenagers, one very nearly an adult. But they are still children. More mature than most for her age, Jasmine carries herself with a straight back, solid shoulders and a mother hen's glare. The need for control in a chaotic household has forged her into an imposing young woman. Strictly no nonsense. Vlad shudders to imagine her as a mother.
And Danny has had to mature rapidly, as well, given his altered state. But even half dead, with all of the trauma that a half death will induce and all the issues Danny has just from growing up under his parents' roof, he's still able to act like a kid. Danny still finds things to enjoy and has approached many of the problems with his new condition with a strangely simple innocence. He's found ways to make light of his form. He's learned how to play. This, Vlad can understand and manage. He can deal with Daniel Fenton, the child.
But other children? Human children?
They're parked in front of a large house in Polter Heights and Vlad is hauling a suitcase out of the trunk when he hears an unholy shrill strike in two chords...and Danny is tackled to the ground by a pair of younglings Vlad doesn't recognize. He'll never admit to anyone, common mortal or deity, that they surprised him. He stands stunned as Danny is caught in a two fold embrace. A girl that looks like she's just wandered out of a death metal concert has her arms wrapped tightly around his neck and is continuing to squeeze, and a boy has wrapped himself around Danny's torso. It doesn't look comfortable; Danny is being pulled in two directions by the pair.
The girl seems the most emotional even with her makeup. "Where have you been?! Jazz wouldn't tell us anything! When did you wake up?!"
The boy comes off more frustrated. "Why didn't you call?! I couldn't even trace Jazz's phone! Where were you, man?!"
Remembering that he's half dead and doesn't actually need to breath, Vlad can see the active decision on Danny's face to feign suffocation and he taps at the girl's arms.
"Guys! Tucker! Sam! Air! Going dark!" They both let go and he makes a small show of inhaling.
"Sorry! But you were gone for months! Where were you?! Jazz wouldn't answer my calls!"
"Forget her calls, I couldn't even find her! I tried pinging towers and all I got was static! And I couldn't even get her IP address when she checked her emails! I fried my computer trying to get through! Seriously, what kind of place needs that much protection?!" Tucker nearly barks.
Vlad glares. So, this is the rugrat that's been setting off his firewall. So nice to put a face to the pest. He opts to carry his luggage inside instead of berating the lad.
He can hear their chatter from inside as he carries his bag upstairs. He can hear the lilt of Danny's voice that indicates he's at ease. The practical mutism that he'd almost succumbed to at his home was gone and Danny was unrestrained, as though a switch had been flipped on in his brain. He takes his time unpacking. Hearing the positive tones in Danny's voice and the laughter that occasionally flows as the minutes tick by, Vlad decides it's good to let him socialize. Let him enjoy the company of people his own age. They can relate on a lot, but Vlad is more than twice his age, after all.
Forty-five minutes have gone by when Vlad finishes getting settled in. He realizes that the younger halfa is still outside. Still talking. Still conversing with what appears to be the only friends he has. Vlad doesn't want to pull him away. He knows the boy needs this. He's descending the stairs when Danny pokes his head in from the doorway.
"Can they come in?" he asks in a hopeful tone, and the other children peer around him. The younger halfa looks up at him with bright blue eyes, almost aglow. Clearly pleading.
Vlad pauses on the last steps, looking somewhat startled. But Danny misses it. It never occured to him that being in Amity Park with Danny meant he'd have to facilitate having friends over. But again, he knows Danny needs the interaction to stay healthy.
"I... I suppose. But he," and Vlad points to Tucker, "is to stay away from all of my devices."
Danny smiles and all three of them bolt past the man, up the stairs and down the hall. Vlad shakes his head and wanders into a living room.
-
Children are loud. Little hellions. Raucous urchins. Yappy anklebiters.
Vlad sits in a cozy living room with a book in his lap. He's attempting to read. The content is dull. But he'd soak it in just a smidgen better if it weren't for the three elephants upstairs. Tucker has brought his own electronics with him, which suits Vlad just fine, thank-you, and it sounds like they're binging on videos of cheap physical humor. He can faintly hear the garbled audio. There's laughter. Lots of it. And easy conversation as the boy slips back into a comfortable routine with his friends.
Good, Vlad thinks. Let him laugh. It's overdue.
The babbling and jokes go on for over an hour. Vlad has just managed to tune the noises out when he picks up on a new conversation. The goth starts it.
"So, other than zapping yourself into a coma and waking up just a few weeks ago, anything new?"
Vlad turns his eyes up in the direction of Danny's room. Expecting he'll need to intervene. These two youths are the only friends the boy has, which means, from the looks of things, they're a tightly knit group as a result. Which also means there's the potential for secrets. And while he wants Danny to settle back in to Amity Park and interact with others his own age, Vlad does not want them aware of Danny's new condition.
He sets the book down and floats up through the ceiling, holding fast to his intangibility and invisibility. He only means to be sure that the boy will keep quiet. He flies down the hall silently and phases through only part of the door. Just enough to get a shoulder and an ear in. Their range of contact means his presence won't trigger the other's ghost sense. But he's still careful. If he moves the wrong way, light will refract, and he'll have an entirely new issue to deal with.
Danny has paused at the girl's words. He's hesitant. The older half can detect the faint sound of smaller vocal chords catching on themselves. Which makes him feel a little better.
"Well...yes, but... I don't think... I don't really wanna talk about it. It's complicated."
Vlad stuffs the scoff threatening his throat down. Complicated. How...infantile of a description.
"Come on, Danny! You know you can-"
"-Not on this, Tuck!" the halfa snaps, startling his friends. It even makes Vlad jerk a little.
"I'm sorry. It's just...it's still kind of raw. I don't really wanna talk about it."
Vlad pulls away as they acknowledge Danny's preference. They're going to find out eventually. It's only a question of when. But, at least for now, his ward has the good sense to keep it quiet.
They become a regular presence for Danny. Vlad instills a hard schedule, akin to his standard school hours. He wants him ready for the new year, but Vlad also knows better than to bury him in a mountain of schoolwork. From nine a.m. to three, it's school. Afterwards, Vlad lets him loose. Occasionally, Sam and Tucker show up a little early, and Vlad lets them sit in the living room until Danny's timer is up. A literal timer. The children adjust and accept the situation as it stands. And they're exceedingly patient for a pair of teenagers.
Vlad lets Danny have his CD player while he works. At first, he was hesitant, worried about the potential distraction. But Danny knew what worked for him. And once the headphones went on, he stayed focused.
At the end of the second week of the course, on a Friday, Vlad hears a knock at the door. He's expecting it to be the boy's friends when he opens it. And is reasonably surprised to find it's not them, but his mother. Maddie had fidgeted uncomfortably under his shocked expression, but he'd led her in and up to Danny's room. Vlad quietly opened the door for her, not wanting to disturb his ward's focus. Maddie looked in from the doorway. Saw her son sitting in the middle of the bed, surrounded by course work and wearing headphones. His back was turned. He didn't notice. He was fixated on schoolwork, his pencil moving easily along the papers without stopping. He's at rest. Calm. Orderly.
Maddie gave Vlad a soft nod of thanks and let him shut the door again. Vlad was somewhat grateful she opted to remain quiet. He wasn't set on cutting her off from her son. And it was clear to him in her demeanor that she's taking things seriously now. She left without a word. It becomes a routine. Every Friday, she'd visit, just long enough to lay eyes on her child. He's always buried in schoolwork when she stops by. She never interrupts him. Vlad finds the routine to be a sign of improvement.
Slowly, steadily, Danny catches up. He stumbles over a few subjects, but Vlad gets him over every hurdle. Every struggle and angry erasure of pencil marks. He finds that he doesn't need to consult any of the teachers. The study material hasn't changed so much that he can't teach them. Which means Vlad is even happier, because he doubts the competence of the school system already. Only once did he have to go digging on the internet for a lesson.
Danny's mental health improves, too. Not under the same pressures and demands of the typical hick town taskmasters masquerading as teachers, Vlad observes a quiet development of confidence. As the summer begins to draw to a close, however, he wonders what will happen when the younger halfa is handed back over to the public school system. What will happen to his grades? How will he perform? Will he do better or worse? More importantly, and perhaps the most concerning to Vlad, what will happen to his mental state? Will the boy shut down like he did at his house?
On several nights, after Danny has gone to bed, Vlad would pace his room and wring his fingers, trying to plan and plot a course of action should something go wrong. Wondering if he can provide a quality education if he has to remove Danny from the school permanently. Wondering what decent tutors or schools are in his area of Wisconsin if he can't because he knows there's nothing surrounding Amity Park.
It's all a terrible waste of time, of course. He won't know until he tries. Until Danny tries. So all he achieves from it is pacing a flat path into his bedroom carpet and tiring himself out.
He'll just have to wait and see.
- 25
- 26
- 27
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Kindred Spirits