Balshumet: Ok! Welcome to the third chapter of Beloved, wherein I actually update at least one of my stories once a week. XD I'll be addressing that at the bottom of the page. I owe you guys several chapters since I'm behind on my twice a month updating schedule I was hoping on for this story. Plus, I've decided this one makes more sense as a shorter chaptered story, so expect 7-9k words a chapter here. (This is shorter chaptered as compared to, say, Bittersweet, where the chapters are all like 12k+long it seems now a days.) Now for the Disclaimer:
I, Balshumet, being of sound body, and nearly sound mind, do so solemnly swear that not a piece of Danny Phantom is my own. It is all the property, intellectual or otherwise, of Butch Hartman, Nick, and Viacom. Please support the official release.
And now without further ado, the story. Cya at the Bottom!
Artwork, Stories, and Questions
The day was shining up to be a good one. It was bright and clear, the air cool and crisp this late in autumn the first signs of winter were peaking through. Most of the trees were beginning to show bare branches through their changing colors, and there was a soft frost on the ground over night most nights now. Deep in Vlad's underground lab though, between the depth underground and the equipment giving off heat, it was a toasty near 80. The clone was seated a few feet from his small bunk scribbling quick pictures of the rest of the house as it came to mind.
It was early, nearly 6am, but he couldn't sleep. He had trouble sleeping for more than a few hours at once, and with nothing else to do, he found ways to keep himself occupied. His Daddy was likely up by now, but he wouldn't be downstairs in the lab for a few more minutes, and with the ghost portal closed, Ghost Skulker wouldn't be visiting either. So he did what he usually did when bored, drew. He was getting sorta good at it too, at least in his thoughts. The sketches were starting to actually look like what he'd been trying to draw. Maybe I could get Daddy to look at them later? D27 pondered while finishing off a simple drawing of the dining room from the night before. He set it aside and rubbed at his chest. It still hurt. He was thinking about telling Daddy when he got downstairs. It seemed kinda bad that his chest still hurt after yesterday, even if he did use a whole lot of power. Something told him it still shouldn't hurt. D27 shrugged it off and walked back towards his bed. He had more art supplies there…
Vlad stretched coffee in hand, as he headed for his private study. The entrance to the lab was in there, and besides that, his secretary was in New York finishing up the merger, which was more like a willing take-over, with the smaller company gladly becoming a subsidiary of Dalvco. New York was a solid two time zones ahead, and so despite the hour at his Wisconsin home, he was expecting a call from her. Stupid time zones; how can it already be 8am over there? He wondered blearily. He usually didn't mind being up early, but the constant supervision the clone required was beginning to take it out of him. He couldn't wait until this growth phase slowed and stopped completely in another two weeks max, because then he'd be able to get back on a normal sleep schedule. The weary billionaire reached for the phone on his study desk before settling into the plush leather chair behind it. He was about to punch in the few buttons needed to connect him to his secretary in New York, when a clarion alarm rang through the house, loud and urgent. Vlad had his hand on the left football player before his conscious mind had really caught up with him. That alarm only meant one thing, and time was precious for the next few minutes.
The pain was unbearable. In the few seconds it had taken to walk from his comfy spot made of repurposed bed sheets on the floor back towards his bed the pain in his chest had spread everywhere. Before he knew what hit him, D27 was curled up in a ball on the floor, a scream frozen on his still shocked lips. The pain came in waves originating in his chest and moving towards the tips of his fingers and toes, and just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, he felt his toes tingle and burn then it felt like someone poured boiling and icy water over them. He cracked a scared eye open and felt absolute fear grip his mind. Where he last saw his toes there was now a growing pool of green slime. Worse, it was traveling up his feet, like the slime was eating more of him as it went. His mind screamed out that he needed to get away from the growing pool of slimy glowing awful stuff eating him, but he was in too much pain to move. Just as the slime reached his ankles, he heard a door upstairs slam closed, and it frightened him out of his terrified stupor enough to scream, "Daddy!" He didn't know what was happening, but he knew he needed his Daddy now.
Vlad rushed down the last of the stairs, and was half way through the front part of the lab when he heard the clone scream for him. It sounded so pained and terrified, he nearly teleported the last few feet just to save time. He decided against it, knowing he needed to keep a level head to stave off any serious damage. "Maddie, I need a live vital feed on the clone now! And while you're at it, splice in the information from the Nanites, get some of that stabilizer I made earlier out of the chiller and onto the console in the back room, and make sure you highlight which segments of DNA are going haywire for me, I don't have the time to waste figuring it out at the moment." He spoke hastily into the quickly hologram materializing air in front of him. Vlad strode purposefully into the back of the lab and zeroed in on the distraught clone's position on the floor instantly. It looked like it was trying to crawl away from the growing pool of its own ectoplasm. "D27, stop moving right now! You're making it worse, so stay still." He commanded before rushing over to it to hold it still. He got its attention when his hand gripped its arm to root it firmly to the ground. The tear and fear filled gaze that met Vlad's own made him rethink his position about the clone's utter lack of personhood. "You have to stay still, it's very important that you don't stress yourself out more right now. Stay still for Daddy ok?" Vlad soothed while scanning through the floating work-up of the clone's system in front of him.
"Clone's stability at 72% and dropping, the culprit seems to be lack of energy honey bun. Nanites can't correct, immediate fusion of energy necessary." The Maddie hologram supplied from across the room near the large computer console on the opposite end of the room. "Genetic Stabilizer would be ineffective in this instance, lamb chops, my suggestion is to give it some of your energy to jump start the stabilization process. Clone's stability 65% and dropping…"
Vlad's frown deepened as he skimmed through the information in front of him. Looks like my guess about the melting wasn't incorrect after all.
The clone's ghostly core was flickering on and off, barely able to produce enough energy to hold it together at the moment. Unlike normal ghost hybrids, well if a sample size of two counted, the clones were basically balls of willed ectoplasm with human DNA mixed in. If Vlad or Danny ran out of ghost energy, they just couldn't transform or use their powers for a few hours. They essentially became completely human for a while. Clones, however, were much more like ghosts. They needed a constant supply of spectral energy to remain stable, unlike normal ghosts though, they produced their own, like a regular half ghost.
The older halfa came to a decision as the melting portion of the clone reached mid-shin in height and its stability dropped below 55%. He took a deep breath and summoned a small amount of gentle blue spectral energy, holding it out for the clone in front of him. "Now D27, look at me…" he trailed off as he felt the clone pull against his hold. Vlad squeezed a little harder and said forcefully, "D27. Look. At. Me." Slowly, much more slowly than he was comfortable with, the clone forced its eyes away from the growing pool of glowing green sludge and towards him.
The pain was getting worse by the second and he was so scared he could barely breathe. Even though he could hear his Daddy talking to him, it was so hard to think or listen through how bad he felt right then…but then it had to be really important, so he tried to focus. Daddy has to be trying to fix it. D27 reasoned before tearing his wide eyes and tear streaked face away from the green stuff currently eating his legs.
"Good boy. Now, I need you to give me one of your hands, it doesn't matter which one. Reach for the glowing blue ball ok? You're going to feel a cold tingle, and the blue ball is going to disappear slowly alright?" Vlad explained as simply and slowly as he could manage at the moment. Even he was surprised by the calm cool tone of his voice; inside he was a notch short of full blown panic. The clone was under 50% stable and falling quickly. The last thing he wanted to do was start all over when this one was so promising. He studiously ignored the niggling sense telling him it was something more than scientific pursuit and unwillingness to start over fueling his worry. He felt a wave of relief as the clone reached out for the softly pulsating ball of blue ecto-energy with its hand…
The burning icy boiling feeling was all the way to his knees now, and it took every bit of concentration he had to ignore it and listen to Daddy talk. He said something about a glowing blue ball, and he finally noticed it sitting in his Daddy's free hand. He would have started if he had the energy, but instead of a gasp all that came out was an aborted cry. He gritted his teeth and reached out for the ball like he was told, and hoped this would make it better. He had just about reached the ball, when the tingling burn started up in his fingers as well. With a scream made of pain and surprise, he watched as his fingers turned into more of the awful green eating stuff as well. "Daddy make it stop please."
Now more worried about the clone melting than overloading its system, Vlad placed his energy loaded hand onto the clone's chest and pressed it into its failing core. For a couple breath stealing seconds, the melting process seemed to get faster, but just as he was about to truly panic; the melting stopped and began to reverse.
The pool of green beneath the clone grew thicker and reabsorbed into the creature's system. The reclaimed ectoplasm quickly reformed limbs, right down to the missing digits on its hands and feet.
Vlad poured a few extra seconds of energy into its body before carefully removing his hand from its chest. He swiftly gave it a once over, checking for any visible damage or changes to its structure, and was relieved to find none. "Maddie, analysis, how's its vitals look?" He questioned into empty space.
"Clone fully stabilized. Ghost core is producing sufficient energy to remain stable indefinitely pumpkin, and there are no deleterious or neutral changes to the clone's DNA." The blue spandex clad Maddie hologram pronounced.
The errant scientist's shoulder sagged in visible relief. That had been a close one. I suppose it would have been easier if it had just cooperated. Vlad concluded with a small frown, before refocusing on the clone besides him on the floor. He finally noticed he was still fiercely gripping its arm. He let go, and noted with concern the dark purple bruise blossoming across its surface shaped like the palm of his hand. Still more concerning was the lack of noising coming from the clone itself. Despite the fact it had just melted and reformed, something he was sure must be painful, it hadn't made a peep since it began to solidify again. It hadn't even reached over for a hug or comfort of some sort, and the continued silence was both unnerving and worrying. "D27?" Vlad ventured softly, reaching out to brush a few stray hairs off of its face.
The pain in his chest was mostly gone now, but even the fading echoes of the hurt didn't distract him from what just happened. Suddenly, he could remember all the other bad times this had happened, and it was overwhelming. Sometimes his Daddy would inject him with something, something that hurt like crazy, but that made the… the like cheddar cheese wilting on his potatoes last night, stop. Others it would stop on its own after a few hurt filled minutes. All of it was bad and scary, and worse it all happened at different times. There was nothing he could remember that happened right before or that could warn him about it. It just happened, and then…then Daddy fixes it. He felt shivers work up his back and the cold bumps show up on his arms. I need a hug. D27 concluded before he heard his Daddy call out to him. He swiveled fear filled and tear brimmed eyes back towards the only constant in his life. Before he knew it, he was flinging himself into his Daddy's open arms. There were a more questions than he had fingers and toes he wanted to ask, but they could wait until after he wasn't so scared anymore.
Vlad relaxed into the now more responsive clone's arms. He felt it wordlessly practically meld itself into his chest, a ball of fear and insecurity. "Shush, it's alright D27, there's nothing to be frightened of." Now. Vlad added mentally before continuing, "You're just fine. I'm here; nothing's going to happen to you." He reached over and gently patted its back, trying to calm the nearly hysterical combination of wailing and tears the little creature had turned into in an instant.
"Buh Daddy, the green stuff almost eated me, and it really hurt, and it happened before-"
"What did? And no nothing was eating you D27, the green liquid wasn't eating you. It's-"
"The green stuff tried to eat me before, and you stopped it." The young boy insisted.
"D27, I'm telling you, nothing was trying to eat you." What it is with small children and being terrified of being devoured? "You were destabilizing." Vlad answered truthfully. It wasn't as if the clone would understand what it meant, even if he was entirely honest with it.
"Destabilize, to upset the stability or equilibrium of; unbalance." He quoted dictionary perfect. "Daddy why was I becoming unbalanced? I don't remember feeling unbalanced, just hurting."
Vlad was beginning to regret letting it read that dictionary in the first place. "Your ghost core wasn't making enough energy to keep you stable." He watched the clone's already big doe eyes widen even further. "But," he quickly interrupted the blubbering spilling forth from its trembling lips, "it's not something you have to worry about." Vlad started quickly trying to change the subject.
"Why would it? It has you to worry about it for him." A metallic voice echoed from the fore of the lab.
"Ghost Skulker!" D27 said happily, wriggling out of his Daddy's arms to go run over to the floating metal specter. With the distraction of the metal covered hunter ghost, he had completely forgotten about the green eating stuff from a few minutes ago.
"Oh alright, just leave me here why don't you." Vlad teased before giving his house coat a once over. It was filthy, covered in the remnants of the clone's green ectoplasm. He barely suppressed a grimace as he worked his way off of the floor. "Ok D27, why don't you stay here with Skulker for a few minutes while I change?" He watched as the clone's face dropped from a shy and excited smile to a scared wide eyed look. "Now, now, there's nothing to worry about. You'll be just fine here for a few minutes, I promise you won't do any more melting. Skulker will be right here with you, I just need some clean clothes alright?" Vlad didn't wait for a real response; he was already walking towards the lab entrance. "Skulker keep the little thing entertained why don't you?" He offered over his shoulder jogging up the entrance stairs, ready for a quick change of clothes.
Skulker stared uncomfortably at the little ball of cloned ectoplasm in front of him. It was even bigger than the last time he'd seen it, and worse, it looked needy. If his guess was correct, the thing had just tried to melt, and was understandably very unhappy about the whole thing. Unfortunately, Skulker wasn't the nurturing type. He much preferred to just kill small, and in other beings' opinions cute, things about the clone's size to watching over them. They were annoying and required a lot of care, two things that he hated. But Plasmius has charged me with caring for the little whelp, so I might as well distract it or something. At least if it isn't thinking about how it nearly just died, it'll stop looking like it wants some kind of affection. Skulker decided before looking down at the still watery eyed creature. "So…" He started only to stop short. He had no idea what the creature was liked or even what it understood, and so had no idea what to talk about. While he was fumbling for a quick idea, the reason for his visit came to mind. "Have you ever heard of the Ghost Dragon King pup?" He noted with triumph the way the creature's eyes started to shine with interest instead of tears. He took its silence for the 'no' it was, before plunging forward with his tale. "Well, you're in for a real treat, because I was there the day he died. You see your…father, Plasmius, got into a fight on behalf of this female…"
Vlad sighed and sagged into the top of his mattress. That had been the worse melting episode so far. Not because of the severity, but because of the clone's reaction. Previously, the thing had either been asleep or too small to remember anything from the melting episodes. Now, it seemed like it remembered not only the instance that just occurred, but several from the past he was sure it hadn't recorded. Looks like it just repressed it. Fantastic. It's not even a week old and it has repressed memories. You should win 'Father of the Year' in no time like this Vlad. He sighed and banished the thought, not least of all for the implications of even being eligible to win an award for fatherhood. All of the stress from the constant attention the clone needed to make it through a single day had just about drained his reserves. Not only did the thing have a habit of destabilizing in the middle of the night and early morning, when he should be asleep instead of tending to it, it was also a rambunctious child, which made watching over it a trial to begin with.
The only good thing to come out of this day so far is the fact this is the final day of accelerated growth at this level. After that, it should be much more stable, and in fact, it should be able to sleep upstairs in its own room tonight. The thought brought some energy back into his system, not only for the relief from the level of vigilance it required of him, but because it marked a serious accomplishment for his cloning work. No other clone had ever stayed this humanoid and stable for this long before. Vlad once again ignored the illogical affectionate warmth spreading through his chest at the thought of the clone's excitement and joy. It didn't really matter yet if it was happy; maybe it would in another week or so. With a huff of semi-energized air, he pushed himself off of the bed and finally padded towards his closet. He needed to get back downstairs. Leaving Skulker with small defenseless creatures for any period of time isn't the best of decisions…
"So then the Dragon King flew down at Plasmius at full speed. I tell you my very core nearly stopped in fear when I saw the malevolent gleam in his eyes. He drew his head back and took a breath so deep, you could feel the air around you moving 100 yards away. Finally, he let out a veritable wall of deep green flames, heading straight for your father. I watched with growing dread as Plasmius didn't so much as budge from his spot on the arena floor!" Skulker paused for dramatic effect, enjoying the enraptured look on the little clone's face.
"And then what happened?" He just had to hear the end of this story. It couldn't stop there; his Daddy might be burnt to a crisp!
Skulker smiled widely before picking up the story where he left off, "the flames came crashing down all around him, engulfing him in their licking tendrils and burning grasp." He paused once again when he heard the clone gasp and begin to bounce up and down nervously. The hunter spared it the wait, though, and immediately started the story back up. "For a full ten seconds, there was nothing but deep green flames surrounding the whole of the courtyard, and I thought for sure Plasmius was but a cinder of ectoplasm. Then, suddenly, the flames gave way, and inside you could see this swirling hot mass of red ectoplasm shaped like a dome. Your father had constructed a shield of solid red ecto-energy, er if you didn't know; red energy is both rare and hard to control. I've only ever heard of beings wielding it before I saw Plasmius actually do so. In any case," Skulker moved pasted the little tangent, "the fires were practically eaten away by the strength of the pulsing shield around him, and the Dragon King roared with frustration. He flew around for another pass, willing himself to go even faster, before Plasmius surprisingly dropped his shield."
"Why?" He didn't want to interrupt, but putting down the only thing keeping you from being set on fire didn't seem like a good idea.
"Hold your horses, I'm getting to it!" Skulker bellowed at the impatient child. What is taking Plasmius so long? He wondered before heading towards the end of the battle. "Inside was a double of your father and he had a dark red sphere of energy in his palm. Then I felt a tingle travel through my suit, and the air around me charged with energy. I heard something crackle through the air, and it began to smell like a rain storm. That's when I realized, Plasmius was charging an electrical attack! The static discharge from the blast grew as the attack grew in power, and quickly several of the female's hair were practically floating straight up. He charged a second attack with the other version of himself, and the air took on a strong metallic taste and smell. The Dragon King had just flown into position to charge at him at full speed, and was already inhaling what felt like half of the air in the arena. Luckily ghosts don't need to breathe! The two of them stared each other down for a hair's breadth, before they threw their attacks at each other. And then-"
"Skulker what in the world are you talking about?" Vlad had just made it back into the lab, and had only caught the tail end of Skulker's last sentence.
"Why you glorious defeat of the Ghost Dragon King of course! I was about to get to the good part too."
"Really?" He practically screamed. He didn't think it could get any better than this.
"Skulker…" Vlad trailed off as he took in the eager and antsy look on the clone's face. "Don't you think this is an inappropriate story for a child?" He wasn't sure why he was even asking. As if Skulker knows what is appropriate behavior around children anyway. Vlad thought with a roll of his eyes.
"What do you mean Plasmius? Is not a tale of your victorious battle not the perfect story for your whelp to hear?"
"Perhaps if it wasn't so violent and filled with so much gore and death. Couldn't you have picked something else to talk about?"
"But I wanna hear the end of the story Daddy! Pretty please? You were just about to hit the mean evil Dragon King with a big electreecal attack." D27 whined up at his Daddy with the biggest saddest looking eyes he could muster.
"Electrical," Vlad corrected, "and no. The story is about to get very-"
"Aw come on Plasmius, it's a great story!" Skulker interrupted. He had just about gotten to his favorite part.
"Maybe for a bar full of harden ghosts, or a something, but not for a barely 5 year old child." Skulker looked about ready to argue the point when Vlad held up a hand. "No Skulker. He'll be having nightmares for a week, and I'll be the one dealing with them. I don't want to be up all night when I don't have to be." Vlad said in a voice that brokered no arguments.
Skulker smirked widely before saying, "Why Plasmius, I didn't know you cared. You're even calling the clone 'he' instead of 'it' now. What were you telling me about it being an experiment two days back?" He gloated freely.
The older halfa frowned before retorting, "A slip of the tongue. Now, since you want to talk about the ancient ghosts, I assume you've found the location of Pariah's Keep like I asked."
"Oh certainly. In fact, it's the entire reason I'm over here, but are you sure you need that crown?" Skulker wasn't really comfortable with the thought of waking the ancient King up for any reason, but he trusted Plasmius to keep the situation under control. At least enough to keep him from getting killed, and the payment for the information, in the form of a brand new suit and new weapons, was too much to pass up for just handing over some Intel.
"Of course I am. I'm going to need that-"
Oh no. Not this time. He wasn't being brushed off again for some stupid conversation with Ghost Skulker about stuff he didn't care about. He'd waited a whole day to show Daddy his sketch, and he was doing it this time. Now more determined than ever, D27 walked over to his space in the back of the lab and snatched up the nearly finished picture before marching purposefully back into the front of the lab. He stood in between the talking adults with purpose and lifted and wiggled his art project in the air above him. When neither of them reacted, he lowered the paper and called, "Hey!"
"Hm what?" Vlad paused in his conversation with his ghostly associate and looked down at the frowning face of the clone between them. He noticed the piece of paper in its hands and immediately began to brush it off. "Now D27, Daddy is busy. He'll look at…your picture later."
"No," he started emphatically, "now. You're going to look at it right now. You promised Daddy." He managed to not whine a bit while saying any of the sentences, settling for an angry tone of voice instead.
The billionaire frowned deeply. He was not about to be commanded by a small child for any reason. "No D27, I will not. I-"
"That's not fair. You never keep your promises!" Now he was actually upset. Nothing he did seemed to get his Daddy to listen or pay attention to him, and he was sick of being…ignored, that was the word.
He was about to reprimand the little clone when Skulker interrupted.
"Oh come on Plasmius, the sooner you look at the thing's doodle, the sooner we can get back to our conversation."
"It's not a doodle, it's a sketch, and you promised you'd look at it today. Remembeer? You promised after training last day."
"Remember, and the word you are looking for is yesterday." Vlad corrected while contemplating the wisdom of giving into the clone's childish request. Seeing no reason to put it off any longer, he leaned over and picked up the page from the creature's grasp. He had been prepared to just dismiss the drawing outright after a quick glance over to satisfy the clone. Instead, he found himself staring intently at the page. The level of skill…
Although the sketch had been made with crayons and colored pencils, not the most sophisticated of artistic instruments; the composition was fairly well made. It was a vivid representation of the Wisconsin sunset from the night before. The sky was a rich combination of bright reds and oranges with hints of purple at the top edge of the page. The sun was the center piece of the picture, and unlike most typical childish representations of the star, it didn't have any lines coming off of the deep red sphere. It hung low on the horizon, disappearing behind the slowly rising fog common in the evenings of autumn in the area. The ground was an interesting mix of greens, browns and red from the light of the sun collecting in the low hanging fog.
If he had to guess the age of the person who'd the sketch in his hand, he'd have thought at least middle school aged. The attention to detail and specific pieces chosen to be showcased demonstrated a level of artistic talent and practice well beyond the barely five years of age, but literally three day old, clone waiting silently beneath him. "D27, you made this?" It was more a rhetorical question borne from a sensation of being impressed than anything else.
He smiled brightly and nodded his head. "It took me a really long time, but I think it came out pretty. I'm not done with it though." He finished, his face melding into a small frown. "I still need to, um, sign it. Like all the painting in the house, but…I don't know how."
"What do you-" Vlad practically slammed his free hand into his forehead. Of course. I only taught it to read yesterday. "Oh well, writing is easy. Listen, I have to finish talking to Skulker, but right after that, I'll show you how to write, and you can finish your sketch." He offered while handing the picture back down to the enthused face of the young clone next to him.
"OK! I'll go fix my bed so I'll be ready when you come back." He barely stopped to grab his sketch from his Daddy's hand before running back towards his space in the lab.
The older hybrid chuckled as he watched the clone race out of the room. "Now," he said turning back to the metal clad hunter, "where were we?" He asked before he noticed the odd stare Skulker was giving him. "What?" He snapped impatiently.
"Oh nothing Plasmius, you just seem awfully excited over the creature's little doodle."
Vlad had to stop himself from telling Skulker it was a sketch. Instead he just responded, "Did you get a good look at it? It was rather good for someone who's only been drawing all of three days don't you think?" He didn't wait for a reply, but instead plunged right ahead. "Admittedly, the construction materials were childish, but the composition was interesting and displayed-oh shut up Skulker." Vlad stopped himself from continuing to praise the clone's picture when the grin on his ally's face only widened.
"What? I haven't said a word. In fact, you've said enough for the both of us about the pup's little picture." Skulker was enjoying rubbing his employer's obvious affection back into his face. Especially after he'd made the point of being so detached the two days before. It looks like the ghostling is growing on him. He concluded with a few extra internal snickers.
"Nevermind." Vlad snapped back waspishly. "So you're sure you have every piece of available information? I don't want to be surprised when I arrive." He mentioned quickly changing the subject. I do not care more than necessary for that little ball of ecto-goo.
"I'm sure Plasmius. You're lucky there's even this much information around. Heck, he was imprisoned over a millennia ago. Anyway, if that's all you need, I'll be heading back home. I saw a golden spotted ecto-bob cat on the way here, and I don't yet have a matching set of male and female for that species yet." Skulker said eagerly.
Vlad gestured towards the open ghost portal. "Be my guest. I'll call on you in another two weeks or so, before I head over to Pariah's Keep."
"What for?" Not that he minded Plasmius requesting his help, he was always well compensated for it, but he was frankly curious about what he wanted. He had better not tell me to go with him to that death trap. Skulker considered with worry.
"I don't want to leave D27 alone for any large period of time, so you'll be keeping an eye on him for me. Don't worry; you'll be compensated of course, but-"
"Plasmius I am not some kind of baby-sitting service. Leave a duplicate of yours here or something to watch it." The hunter was not about to degrade himself by watching small children.
"It'll be nearly Daniel's age by then, so it's not going to need serious watching over, I just need someone around who knows the technical of working my systems, just in case it tries to destabilize. Besides, I'll need all my energy for going through Pariah's Keep, unless you'd like to accompany me?"
"No! I can watch the whelp. You are sure it'll no longer be so small in two weeks?" When faced with the option of either flying into certain near lethal level danger, or watching some pup for a few hours, the choice was clear.
"Of course. I'm glad we are in agreement." As if there was ever any other option. Vlad concluded smugly. "I'll see you in two weeks then. Don't look so glum, I promise I'll train the clone to have much better manners than anything Daniel can muster." With that, he watched the frowning hunter float through the ghost portal, and disappear back into the zone. Now much more curious about what his quickly growing experiment was up to, Vlad turned away from the hypnotic swirling greens of the portal and back towards the back of the lab.
He'd waited as patiently as he could for nearly five minutes, before he'd found something else to do other than staring at the now completely clean floor of the lab. The little blue hologram that showed up sometimes when Daddy talked was floating in front of him now. Chatting happily with D27 about how pretty the sky had been last night, and the few messier scribbles he'd made earlier when he was bored. "I think I'm go to do this one again, but much better." He said while holding up a picture of his Daddy in ghost form arms crossed, an imagined wind blowing back his white and red cape. He watched the hologram smile and nod, obviously pay attention. "But what I really want to draw is the really cool, um, battle between Daddy in that mean ghost dragon thingy, it's just…I don't know what a dragon looks like." D27 concluded with a huff, a frown marring his previously bright features.
"Oh that's simple! I have lots of pictures of dragons you can look at." With that the hologram's image was replaced with a large collage of various dragons from all over the world. There were East Asian dragons, classic European dragons, and even some pictures of South American dragonish figures.
"If you want to know," Vlad started from behind the pair, "the Dragon King looks a lot more like this one." He stated while pointing to an especially impressive black European dragon in the mass of pictures.
"Daddy!" He didn't know what was better, that his Daddy was actually paying attention to him without him having to cry or scream or something bad, or that he'd actually kept his promise this time. "Mrs. Computer was showing me some dragon pictures, oh and she showed me how to sign my name." D27 held up the newly completed sketch of the sunset, with a squiggly solitary letter and two numbers at the bottom right corner.
Vlad chuckled at the barely legible script at the bottom of the picture. "Yes that's very nice. He blinked when the clone practically shoved the sketch back into his hands. "What-"
"It's for you. I want you to keep it." He said with a big smile. He hoped Daddy liked it. "I wanna make more, but um, I'm almost out of sketch making stuff."
"Art supplies," Vlad offered casually. "Of course I'll get you some more. In fact, I'll have someone pick some nice watercolor paints in the morning." As messy as those are. "And you're sure you want me to have it? You worked very hard on it, and I was thinking you could keep it in your room." Vlad said carefully picking the clone up from the floor.
D27 glanced around the lab with an unhappy pout. "Of course I do! That's why I worked so hard on it. I already have lots of pictures in here with me; I don't need the good ones to stay here."
"Ah, but D27, I didn't mean here." The older halfa watched as its eyes lit up with curiosity. "There's a nice space upstairs with your name on it, oh not literally," he added when the clone began to look confused, "but it is just for you. Would you like to see it?" He carefully balanced the clone on his hip and stalked towards the exit of the lab.
"You mean I don't have to stay here tonight?" He watched as the space he'd made in the back of the lab disappeared farther from view. It made his tummy feel like there was something wiggling in it. He did want to sleep outside of the lab; it was cold and made lots of beeping noises. On the other hand, he'd never slept anywhere else, as far as he could remember, so the thought of doing so wasn't as fun as he imagined it would be.
"Not unless you want to." Vlad added when he noticed the nervous energy coming off of the clone. "But why don't you take a look at the room before you decide?" Honestly why in the world does it want to sleep in a cold impersonal lab over a nice decorated room, I can't fathom. He rounded the corner taking him away from the study and back towards the front part of the house. He'd had a room set up after the clone had fully solidified out of its growing pod about five days before. It was generic kid friendly, with enough personality and bright colors to entice most small children. I'm sure it'll want to make changes as soon as it's settled.
"Oh, ok I guess." He decided. During the last part of the walk to the room, something he'd put off before came back to mind. Skulker and Mrs. Computer had called him something weird. And when he thought about it, Daddy did too sometimes. He knew what the word meant; he just didn't know why they kept calling him that. "Daddy, why does Ghost Skulker and Mrs. Computer keep calling me 'clone'?"
The elder hybrid nearly dropped the clone in surprise when he heard its question. He hadn't expected the question for awhile yet, perhaps never if he was honest with himself. It wasn't something he was keen on explaining. "Oh well, don't worry about it, it's not really that important."
"But it is Daddy. Ghost Skulker keeps saying it, and you do too. If 'clone' means to make a copy of, or an individual produced by cloning, then who am I a copy of?" It had been bothering him for the last day or so, and he really wanted an answer.
I definitely hate that dictionary. What was I thinking? "I…" His first instinct was to blatantly lie. To tell it wasn't a clone at all. That it had misunderstood. But the way it was looking at him made it nearly impossible. "I promise, I will tell you later. Just not right now ok? I don't want you worrying about it, but if it really bothers you, I'll tell you in a few days." At least by then it will be much older, so maybe it'll understand better.
That wasn't the answer he wanted, and his Daddy didn't always keep his promises, but he'd kept his last one, so maybe he would this time too. "Ok…" He rested his head against his Daddy's shoulder right as he stopped in front of a door. The door opened with a slight creak and on the other side was the coolest room he'd ever seen. There were cool colorful pictures on the walls of big bright green lizards, and the bed had red cars all over the sheets. The floor was a bright blue carpet that matched the walls, the ceiling was sky blue with little white clouds on it, and the background of the bed sheets too. D27 started to wiggle, wanting to see the room for himself.
"Oh alright, there." Vlad set the clone down onto the floor and watched it bolt for the bed. He suppressed laughter as it practically bounced off the walls in excitement. He started when he felt his cell phone buzz, then the reason for it hit him. I was supposed to call Cynthia. In between the near melting episode, and talking with Skulker, he'd forgotten why he'd woken up extra early today in the first place. "Now D27, I have to take this call, but I'll be back in a little bit so you can tell me what you think of the room."
"But I already know what I think. Can't I sleep here tonight?" He wriggled with energy, his whole body practically buzzed he was so happy.
"Certainly." The occupied business man answered with a flick of his wrist to open the phone. "Now stay right here until I get back, I don't want you wandering the halls like yesterday." Vlad turned from the room, and closed the door behind him, already going over the finalities of his newest acquisition. A few distracted minutes later found him settled behind his private study's desk, signing off on the last of the faxed over documents, preparing to send them back to Cynthia in New York. He pulled back the second to last page and was about to sign the last page when he noticed that it wasn't a document at all. Vlad had somehow dragged the clone's picture back into his study with him, and it was staring back up at him innocuously.
"Mr. Masters?" a disembodied voice asked from the other end of the cell.
"Oh? Yes, I've finished signing the last of the documents, and I'm faxing them now. Yes this did go a lot smoother than I thought it would. I'm glad they agreed so readily, to the updated conditions, as well. I'll talk to you when you get back to Wisconsin Cynthia, have a great flight." Vlad clicked the cell shut and stared down at the clone's gift. He had contemplated pinning it on the fridge, but it didn't seem right to put it up there. He wanted it somewhere they'd both see it regularly, and he rarely frequented the kitchen, and he doubted the clone would either. On the other hand, his study desk got plenty of use, and both him and the clone would be in here often enough to assuage any guilt about leaving it somewhere supposedly private. A small smile graced his lips as the picture balanced against a square shaped paper weight on the desk. He'd get it a real frame in a day or two. Once again, the squiggly unique, personal, touch on the bottom corner stuck out to him. It was significantly different seeing the clone mark something as his-its own. If it was difficult thinking of it only neutrally or as a scientific curiosity before, those three little symbols made it basically impossible. But maybe that's not such a bad thing. I can't thinking of D27 as an 'it' forever if I want to call…him my son one day. Maybe saying 'he' won't cause as many problems as I think. Vlad pondered leaning back in his leather chair. The clone was still small and unstable, but he couldn't pretend it was just a ball of ectoplasm anymore. If only it-he didn't have such an endearing personality. Vlad pondered before concluding, but then if he wasn't so endearing, I wouldn't want to call D27 a 'he' right now, and I suppose that's a small 'sacrifice' to make for finding a way to start thinking of him as Daniel.
Balshumet: Aww look, Vlad is getting attached to him! I think...he really is never clear on that when we talk about it, what with his constant denial and all. Plus, I promise the next chapter will be filled with adorable clone antics to make up for the awful melting here. I've already started on the 4th chapter, and I've up'd my updating schedule for this to make up for how behind I am. This week should be the 5th chapter and not the third, but I will be updating until I'm back on schedule. Probably by the end of this month.
Now to talk about my other story Bittersweet, which has gone three weeks this weekend without update. I'm sorry my cross readers, I shall make it up to you. I'm currently writing this at 1am EST, and will post it right after 3am EST.(Which marks 12am on the Servers in the Pacific) It seems what I want to happen takes many more words than I thought. The result is, I'm going to have to cut this coming chapter in half, so that it's not over 20k words or something. It also means I had to re-work my where I want my chapters to end, so it took some re-planning. The bright side is, you should have a chapter later this night. The even more plus side is, you get another chapter where I didn't think there was going to be one, and so even more story has popped up to fill it in, so yay for more chapters! Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. Take care my readers, and as always my lovelies, R&R.