Danny, however, didn't cheer up when Vlad put the comforting hand over his shoulder. In fact, it had the opposite effect; he knew that Vlad was showing pity, and his supposed arch-nemesis would never show pity like that, unless what he wanted to reject as reality was reality.

Vlad's countenance again returned to being sullen. He felt saddened that he couldn't comfort who he regarded as his son, now that Jack was dead.

Though he was confused; why did he feel so saddened by the boy's sorrow? They had been arch-enemies for quite a while now; why did Danny come to him? His main motive was to get the boy as his, but by this point, it had degenerated into a rivalry. Maybe his original motive was still there?

As for Danny, most of his family and friends were dead, but he could've stayed with other people. Valerie Gray, for example. Sure, they weren't the best of friends, but they were…acquaintances. Yes, that was the word for it.

Unfortunately, he had no more time to think about it as he was snapped out thoughts by said Danny speaking to him.

"V-Vlad?" Danny asked nervously.

"Yes, my dear boy?" Vlad replied. He displayed a surprising amount of empathy; this time, the common nicknames he had for Danny were not condescending, but instead showed his genuine attention and concern.

"Can I, you know…stay with you?"

Somehow, this request did not shock Vlad, and he already knew his answer before he had even spoken it. "Of course, Daniel, I understand. Come inside."

He let Danny in as he slowly closed the heavy doors leading to his enormous mansion. Danny just continued to look down as he stepped inside, still extremely sullen. When he got to his room, he knew he was probably going to cry again until he had no more left.

"Is there a room for me to stay in?" Danny asked. He already knew there was one, but he phrased it as to mean which room Vlad wanted him to stay in.

"Of course! You can stay in the one next to my bedroom. Up the staircase, three doors down on your left." Vlad replied.

Nodding slowly in acknowledgement, Danny dragged his bag as he went to ascend the staircase, before Vlad stopped him.

"Daniel, let me get the bag for you."

"Vlad, it's-" Danny began.

Vlad shook his head as he took the bag from him. "It's okay, really, just go upstairs."

Danny conceded and headed up to the second floor, reaching his room as Vlad followed. Danny opened the door to a lavishly decorated bedroom, with red satin sheets and a private bathroom connected to it. A large glass window faced towards the mansion's expansive courtyard, with trimmed bushes, large trees, and a fountain in the middle.

Vlad set Danny's suitcase on the floor as he looked at Danny. "I'll call you down for dinner. Do you need anything else?" Vlad inquired.

Danny shook his head, not saying anything.

Knowing that was a sign Danny didn't want him to be there, Vlad quickly gave him a slight smile before retreating back down to the dining room, which had many chairs surrounding an ornate table, with a opulent chandelier hanging from above.

He finally had the time to think about what just happened and to process it; dinner wasn't for another 2 hours. Although he knew that he had seen Danny as his son from the start, the hostile relationship they had shared had degenerated that, at least that's what he thought.

However, his kindness towards Danny which scared even himself confused him. He felt like he should have been nice to him, and he acted on these feelings. One thing still conflicted his mind though, were they from sympathy, or were they genuine?

He then saw, out of the corner of his eye, the newspaper Danny had shown him, laying on the floor of the main foyer. He went to pick it up and take it back to the dining room, where the headline, again, stuck out to him. "Nasty Accidents for Fentons and Friends", it read. Was it really true? Did an explosion at the Nasty Burger really kill of the people Danny knew?

Jack was dead. He, somehow, felt relatively little sorrow from that. The same could be said for Sam, Tucker, and Mr. Lancer 's deaths. He blamed his ghost side for that, though he knew that the malice he felt towards Jack was probably why. He WAS the one who caused the accident, anyway.

Maddie was dead. Vlad sighed as he blinked back tears. The love of his life was dead. He knew that he had to accept that, but he didn't want to. He was in denial. Now he knew how Danny felt, except at a lesser scale. It still hurt, however, as he knew that in the endless battle he fought to get Maddie, it ended abruptly with her death, and his efforts were in vain.

Jasmine was dead. This also hurt; along with Danny, he had seen her as a daughter. He would've have taken her in along with Danny in an ideal world, and her intelligence would add to his own.

Vlad stood up as he crumpled up the newspaper, throwing it in a trash bin nearby. It was no use to dwell on the past and to create unnecessary sorrow; he had learned that the hard way after the accident. He suffered from extreme grief as he recovered from the ecto-acne, and only got over it after learning that he could use his ghost powers for personal gain.

Of course, Vlad mused, that was not the best advice to give to Danny when he saw him again at dinner.

At around 6:00, Vlad headed to Danny's room from the kitchen after he had finished preparing dinner, and knocked on the closed door.

"Daniel, dinner is ready."

When he got no response, Vlad instantly had a sense of dread. Staying calm, Vlad knocked again. "Daniel? Dinner is ready." He repeated. "It's steak and potatoes."

He let out a sigh of relief when Danny responded, though his voice sounded shaky. "Coming…" He groaned as he opened the door, looking at Vlad. The number of tissues in the trash bin signaled that Danny had been crying a lot, understandably. Remember to take out Danny's trash, Vlad mentally noted as he led Danny downstairs to the dining room.

He saw that Danny looked slightly better from when he arrived, but he still emitted a sullen aura that Vlad could detect. He knew grief takes time to heal, however, and didn't question about it.

Danny took his plate of steak and potatoes gratefully as Vlad smiled back, and they sat down to eat. Both ate in silence for a bit before Danny spoke.

"Vlad?" Danny started.

Vlad looked up from his meal and looked at Danny. "Yes?" He replied.

"Why are you so willing to help me? We've been enemies for a while now, and I didn't expect you to, you know, take me in." Danny stated, wanting a reply. Although he was grateful that Vlad took him in, he didn't know why he was so eager to. He himself didn't know why Vlad was the first person he thought of when asked if he had any surviving guardians.

Vlad rested a finger on his chin as he thought about it. This was what I was thinking about earlier… "Well, Daniel, remember the reunion you attended?"

Danny nodded while trying to not bring up memories of how Vlad locked him in a spectral energy neutralizer. If Vlad was being civil, he didn't want to spoil it by his demeanor towards him unintentionally souring.

"Well, I did tell you that I wanted to teach you new ghost powers. I thought that we could be the perfect father and son duo; both of us were halfas, and both of us became halfas through unfortunate accidents. The only reason why we became enemies is because you refused. Now, in an unfortunate way, you came to me for shelter and guidance, and I gladly gave it to you." Vlad recalled.

Danny thought that made sense and was satisfied by the response, but what he said next shocked Vlad to his very core.

"Vlad, I want you to remove my human side."

Vlad almost spat out the piece of steak that would in his mouth. He swallowed at stare incredulously at Danny, horrified. "WHAT!?" Clearing his throat as he realized that was a bit over the top, Vlad spoke again. "Daniel, why on EARTH would you do that?"

"I've been crying for hours, Vlad, HOURS." Danny said, on the verge of letting sorrow overtake him again. "I don't want any human emotions to weigh me down anymore."

Vlad stuttered before he responded, taken aback by the sudden request. "Daniel, that is extremely dangerous and is not worth the benefits you perceive. Your ghost half could become unstable during the separation, and could do impulsive things that may-"

"I don't care!" Danny yelled, switching from sadness to anger in a matter of seconds. "I've had enough of all this grief. I just want to be happy again."

Vlad looked at him sadly as he knew exactly what Danny was going through, but he didn't want Danny to turn out like he did. "Daniel, no. As I said, it's extremely dangerous."

"Since when did you care!?" Danny exclaimed. He was starting to become hysterical, and Vlad knew if he honored Danny's wishes, it would exacerbate the problem instead of the intended solution.

"Since you came, Daniel." Vlad stated honestly. He looked at Danny with concern as Danny rose from the table.

"You don't care about me; if you did, you'd honor my wishes and put me out of my misery." Danny said with a chilling coldness as he suddenly turned into Phantom, flying off.

Vlad acted quickly as he turned into Plasmius, trying to pursue Danny, lest he lose him forever. In this state, he was afraid what Danny would do. "DANIEL!" He yelled as he was hot on his trail, but he knew that Danny would elude him, and he would lose him unless he did something soon.

Getting an idea, Vlad created a clone and positioned it in front on Danny. The shock caused Danny to instinctively slow down, and Vlad used this opportunity to grab Danny, reabsorbing his clone.

Danny struggled as he tried to break free, but Vlad was staunchly holding him in place as he dragged him back to his mansion. "Let me go!"

"No, Daniel, I won't. You'll either die out there or become evil like I did, and I don't want that to happen to you." Vlad wholeheartedly said as he phased both of them through one of the windows in his home.

Danny stared at him before breaking down, crying into Vlad's shoulder as he didn't know what to feel anymore.

Vlad looked at Danny with sympathy as he laid Danny down on the bed in his room. Danny had reverted back to his human form by this point and Vlad did the same. Danny slowly stopped crying as he fell asleep with dried tears on his pillow.

Vlad, seeing Danny was asleep, took the tissue-filled trash can to the main trash while he thought about what just happened. He knew that Danny was emotionally unstable right now, and anything that he did would have a profound effect on whether Danny would be able to get through this or not.

Later that night, Vlad checked in on Danny before he went to sleep. Seeing that he was sleeping soundly, Vlad sighed in relief as he headed to his own room next door to sleep.

Although he was still uncertain as to how Danny would be tomorrow, he knew that it was now his responsibility to care for Danny and to be his mentor, and he would do it to the best of his ability. No longer was he Danny's arch-enemy; now he was his guardian, and with his help, Danny would make it through the rain.