"Sign here, here, here...and done." Vlad said to himself as he filled out the adoption papers, sealing them in an envelope. He wrote down the address for Madison City Hall as he put them in his briefcase; he'd go out later to mail it. He also sealed the papers for homeschooling in another envelope to the same destination.

He sighed a sigh of relief as he stood up from his desk, resolving to go check how Danny was doing. Judging by yesterday, he assumed that Danny had been doing well; he hadn't had any nightmares last night, and he responded to the Box Ghost's unprecedented attack quite well.

"Daniel?" Vlad cautiously asked as he approached Danny's door. Like yesterday, he hadn't seen Danny for the morning, and he was curious as to how he was doing.

"Lunch is ready?" Danny presumed as he opened the door.

Vlad peeked at the trash can in Danny's room, and saw that it wasn't full of tissues. That's a good sign, Vlad mentally noted as he responded. "Actually, no, I was just checking up on you to see whether you were okay."

Danny seemed unfazed by the question, glancing at a random spot on the opposite wall. "I'm fine, thank you." He said, seeming to not want to talk about his emotional state.

Vlad knew that he shouldn't press on the subject, and resolved to go back to his study. "Well, I'll be in my study if you need me. By the way, you're free to roam about the mansion if you please; I have a library, movie theatre, and game room to name a few if you need to entertain yourself. Lunch will be out in an hour."

He had explained the layout of the mansion to Danny yesterday to the best of his ability, as he knew that it was always confusing to visitors, let alone guests. The mansion was simply too big, and people couldn't find their way around the place.

Danny nodded and was about to step back into his room where he had his laptop running, until he remembered something that he wanted to ask Vlad, though he hoped that it wasn't too personal; they had only met a few days ago, after all.

"Wait, Vlad!" Danny exclaimed, trying to get Vlad's attention.

Vlad immediately stopped and turned around, looking at Danny intently. "Yes, Daniel?"

"If you don't mind me asking…" Danny started, "What did you do after the lab accident?"

…Well, that kind of question was unexpected. Though it probably shouldn't have been; Danny was probably smart enough to see the parallels between the lab accident which changed his life and his own tragedy which caused great grief to him.

Vlad knew that Danny wanted advice about how to deal with emotional sorrow, and although it touched him that Danny was asking him, it pained him to talk about it.

Vlad stopped himself from cringing for Danny's sake, and took a deep breath. "Well, my dear boy, the first moments after the accident were quite hazy." He stopped himself as he knew he would be talking for quite a while. "May I suggest that we sit down? This will be long, and standing for too long isn't good."

Danny nodded in agreement and both of them sat on Danny's bed. "Anyway, I remember yelling in pure horror right after the accident, as I saw my face covered in ecto-acne in the mirror. After that, I must have passed out from the shock, since the next thing I remember was lying down on the hospital bed."

"My parents visited me first, and were worried sick about me. However, I convinced them that i was fine, and that I would be discharged soon, since the doctor found nothing abnormal besides the ecto-acne." Vlad paused to judge Danny's reaction so far, and he seemed calm, so Vlad decided to continue.

"Jack and Maddie visited me next, and I…" He trailed off as he knew that Danny would be hurt from hearing his parents' names, and he also knew that he had been a fool to do the things he had done back then. He saw that Danny's expression had soured, but no tears had formed yet.

"It's okay, Vlad, continue." Danny said, as if he was reading Vlad's mind. Reassured, Vlad nodded and continued on.

"I never forgave them for what they did, Jack specifically. With the ecto-acne on my face, I had told them both to get out, and that I didn't want to see them. My anger had eluded me of the fact that they were my friends, and that they were genuinely sorry for what they had done. As you can see, that never really changed after that the day. The next time I saw them was at the reunion I hosted."

"After that, I discovered my ghost powers in the hospital the next day, as I reached for lunch the nurse had placed on the bedside table for me. My ecto-acne had already healed somewhat, and I was due to be discharged in a week. The nurse had accidentally placed the meal out of my reach, and I struggled to reach it."

"When I did finally grasp it, I found that I was floating in the air, and I almost dropped the plate in sheer shock." Vlad recalled, shuddering as he remembered how he felt. "However, I soon learned how to control these newfound powers, and once I was discharged, I had mastered them already."

"The rage that I had felt in the hospital mixed with my newly formed ghost half, and influenced the way it developed. That's the difference between Phantom and Plasmius: you never experienced anything like that when you got your ghost half, so your ghost half has the same personality as you."

"Mine, on the other hand, is slightly different from, well, me. I've managed to slowly change it over the years, but initially, it was quite evil, and it influenced me too. That's how I went on my streak of using my ghost powers for personal gain, which I hope will not happen to you."

"So, is Plasmius totally different from you? Do you have mental conversations with him or something?" Danny asked.

"No, it's not like he's a separate person, but having a ghost half leaves a lasting impression on you. The simplest way to explain it is that when I experienced that hate for Jack and Maddie, it lasted a lot longer than it should've for normal people."

"So how is he now?"

"Well, I'd say he's now like Phantom; not many differences from the human side. Maybe he's a contributor to some of the 'fruitloopy' characteristics you talk about, but he's now just like me."

"Thanks for talking about it." Danny said, seeming to be in thought.

"No problem, Daniel. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go make lunch. I'll call you down when it's ready." Vlad replied, standing up and heading to the door.

I hope that discussion helped him heal, Vlad thought as he descended the staircase to the kitchen.

Finally got a chapter done on time!