A.N. First off, thank you to everyone who reviewed and 'favourite'd' (yes I know that isn't a word) my story; it is good to know that I must be doing something right if people actually like it. I've had over 1,000 hits for this so far, that's loads more than I expected! So thanks guys.

Secondly; any info in this story on the lives of the characters or their ghost powers has come from Wikipedia or …where would I be without them? Disclaimer; and I own neither these sites, nor Danny Phantom!

Lastly; I still think there is something wrong this this chapter, but I'm not sure what! I've never written a fight scene before but I think I did an okay job of it, its not very long but…you people shall be my judge, jury and executioners :) As for the rest of the chapter…well I think next time I will add either something to do with Danny's friends / family…but we'll see what happens…

What Unusual halflives we lead

Chapter 7: Explosive Consequences

Danny stood uneasily amidst the rubble of what had only seconds ago been a solid sitting room wall and the dust that still drifted persistently in the air had further obscured his already blurring vision. He was able to distinguish Plasmius' intimidating outline and now all that mattered was beating the guy to a pulpy mush of ectoplasmic slush on the ground. With his right hand he grasped his throbbing ribs as his breathing increased with both anger and pain that refused to go away.

How dare the bastard do this to him! There was no way that Vlad was gonna get away from this unscathed, but how would he do it? Vlad was stronger than him even at half power so he would need intellectual Danny for this one. The man had mentioned his recent 'recovery,' so maybe it wouldn't be too difficult to distract him long enough to escape. Danny was cursing every god and deity he could remember for his stupidity, he had been trying to trust Vlad hadn't he? And this was his reward? To hell with this! And to hell with Plasmius! Danny didn't care if the man was attacked right in front of him by whatever monster, ghost or spirit was out there…'cuz there was no way he would help him now.

But of course Danny was wounded too, he was tired and hungry, his long weeks of insomnia and malnourishment were taking their toll, but he was adamant that he was never going to admit it. He was NOT tired! He was NOT hungry! And he did NOT have an unidentifiable, really creepy, growing wound on his chest! GOOD! Now that that was sorted, he took several slow steps towards his arch-enemy and his hands exploded in noxious ectoplasm, it cast disturbing shadows on the damaged room and on the boy himself.

With the added light he could see Plasmius in detail, he could see the man's proud cape billowing from the after-shock of the blast, and he could see the spotless white shirt and trousers that he wore. But it was his expression that puzzled Danny the most, he expected to find a look of pure loathing, a look of hatred and abhorrence that he was so used to finding on Vlad's face. But the pale cerulean skin appeared sickly and the red eyes were hazier than he remembered…who exactly was this man that stood before him? It was only when he took a split second to look closer did he notice that the man didn't look as spotless as first he'd thought. His neat black hair seemed dishevelled and muted, and he way he stood seemed less arrogant, like standing as straight as before would hurt in some way. Maybe he really had caught Vlad by surprise and broken a rib or two with his attack; good, that was payback for insulting him and his family, and for tricking him like this.

In the meantime Vlad was having his own inner struggle, a part of him, a very vocal part of him wanted to charge at the child. Vlad wanted to fire at him and teach Daniel some respect the way he had been taught; through brute force. But was it wise to attempt this? What good would come of it? Except a little cruel satisfaction it wouldn't help in anyway, he was tired and wounded, and it was crystal clear to him that Daniel was as well. He just didn't know why? He was sure the boy could handle the late night fights; he had done so for 2 years, and he hadn't had time to ask before Daniel's explosive outburst. Maybe he had provoked the child, but his pride demanded that he see this fight through. So he readied himself for a fight, sensing that Daniel was doing the same he felt his palms ignite with small but powerful electrical ectoplasm and flexed his gloved fingers.

His eyes narrowed as the boy flew clear of the debris to hover over the ground and their respective energies lit up the room. He could see a calculative glint in Daniel's eyes and he smiled; years of being unambiguous rivals had at least taught the child something of use, however unintentionally it may have been learnt. And he was prepared as two circling discs of green energy came flying towards him from above. He fired back and the two colliding energies met with a flamboyant explosion of green and purple ectoplasm.

With a yell of surprise Vlad realised that they had both put a lot of energy into a single blast as they were both pushed back from the recoiling explosion. It created a blinding flash of light and they both were forced to shield their sensitive eyes. Vlad recovered instantly and watched as Danny flew straight towards him; he reacted quickly enough to make them both intangible so that they went harmlessly through the wall and landed on his front lawn. His house had been through enough damage for now.

Danny was furious as the two of them crashed onto Vlad's lawn; he thought for sure that first blast would have done some damage. But no, all it had done was make the man more prepared for his next attack, and now he knew he was doomed. He let out a moan of discomfort as his aching muscles met solid ground and he clamped his eyes shut to combat the pain. A bad idea considering it was Plasmius he was fighting but he couldn't help it; he was always getting thrown through solid walls and onto hard ground…granted grass was softer than brick but it still really hurt. Danny forced his eyes open and they began to glow a ghostly blue as he sent out two blasts of ice energy at Vlad.

The man groaned as he recognised the child's vexatious cryogenic powers heading towards him and he was forced to fly away from Danny to avoid the glowing energy aimed at him. He still wasn't sure that beating the child in a fight would be the right thing to do. But perhaps if he could get Daniel to stop attacking and listen to him…he would have to get him to change back into his human half, and the only way he could do that was by exhausting the child. Not his best plan but it would have to do for now.

So immediately, he fired a weak mauve lightning blast at Danny, the feeble energy drew closer to the boy and his eyes widened in recognition and surprise. Before he could act the blast hit its target and Vlad listened as Danny shrieked on contact, no matter how weak the electricity it still always managed to cause some damage. It was nature of the energy; harmful and sadistic. Vlad supposed in some warped kind of way he was well suited to it.

Vlad ceased his attack as Daniel trembled on his knees and was forced back onto the ground. It seemed that Vlad's sitting room wall and lightning attack had had more of an effect on him than he wanted to believe. Danny curled himself into a foetal position with his knees drawn up to his forehead and his arms shielding his chest. Out of routine habit a strong glowing ecto-shield appeared to protect his aching body while he attempted to force the pain to the back of his mind. He imagined the enemy; Plasmius would easily get past his shield with little effort so that left him with precious little time to pull himself together. But it was easier said than done, as he felt like he was suddenly burning from the inside out.

Danny had never experienced anything like this before in his life. He never did well in the heat but this was ridiculous! Was this a new cruel effect of the man's ectoplasmic lightning that he'd wanted to test? But nothing else mattered anymore; not Vlad and his stupid 'spirit' problem, or their stupid fight…just the intense heat that continued to scald and blister his skin.

Vlad invisibly flew over to the boy and watched in confusion and horror as Daniel's breathing became sharper and faster. Surely their little fight hadn't caused this pitiable reaction? How had the boy suddenly developed such a violent reaction from his weak attack than before? But Vlad was pulled from his musings as the weak shield Daniel had established was literally crumbling before him. The green ectoplasm was collapsing in sizeable portions that fell to the ground and seemed to singe and fizzle into nothingness, scorching the grass beneath it. What was he to do now? The boy looked to be in enough pain without his electrical energy adding to it; maybe he would pass out without Vlad having to intervene again.

"Daniel?" Vlad whispered as he visibly appeared standing in-front of the boy with a solicitous expression.

"W…what did you…d…do to me?" Danny hissed painfully through his teeth and jerked his head up to meet Plasmius' red gaze; he was too preoccupied to notice the confused expression on his enemy's face. Against his better judgement he felt his body begin to revert back to his human half as he tried to prevent it. He repeated over and over; don't change, don't change, don't…

The boy's transformation rings appeared; they were dim and dull and he watched as Daniel's expression interchanged from agony to determination. The dull rings dissolved and he was left in his ghost form; Vlad couldn't help but admire the young hybrids determination. He was all too familiar with Daniel's stubborn streak but it never ceased to remind him of himself as a young man. Another way in which the two were similar, which of course Daniel would deny. More stubbornness! The whole idea was a contradiction!

Once the ecto-shield had crumbled completely Vlad knelt down to get a better idea of what was causing the child so much distress. He could see that the black suit had been torn slightly in a few places, most likely from his sitting room wall, but it was nothing serious. With their strengthened physiques and enhanced healing abilities they could both take far more brutality than any ordinary humans. "Daniel, what's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Oh…l…like you d...don't know…isn't this like…a new p…power of yours or something…" Danny said quietly but his voice was dripping with venom and animosity. If it were possible he curled more tightly inwards and attempted to shift away from Vlad.

"No, I only intended…"

"S…save i…it…Plasmius…" Danny muttered and tried to push himself up from the ground, he wanted to fly away, he wanted to go back home, back to Fenton Works where he'd be safe…or mostly safe anyway, safer than here. If he lost consciousness with only Vlad around who knew what the man would do to him. He managed to hover several inches off the grass but they were soon reacquainted as Danny became a victim of gravity like the rest of the population. He squinted and turned his face to gaze at the sky; it was still early morning – just around sunrise he noticed bitterly as he took in the contemptuously beautiful skyline set against a spectrum of vibrant oranges, golden yellows and molten reds.

Normally Danny loved watching the sunrise and set, they were his favourite times of day and the only ones that were fixed. They always happened, unlike his jumbled schedule of irregular ghost fights, detentions and homework. But now he was slightly bitter; if the sunrise was the last thing he was going to see before Vlad Plasmius worked on tearing him apart molecule by molecule, he would much rather have chosen his family…his friends. What kind of warped god, fate or sense of karma gave him a sunrise before his loved ones? Was this a messed up world or what? But Danny supposed he deserved it; after all it was his stupidity that had lead him here, now they would all think he had got lost in the Zone and killed there…and Vlad would never get his comeuppance!

Danny was forced back into his human form, he couldn't prevent it any longer and his vision was beginning to fade. He didn't hear the birds chirping, he didn't hear the roaring wind or even Vlad calling his name, everything was silence and blackness.

Vlad watched…he was a helpless spectator, he was as useless as the opposing kings trying to overturn each other in chess.(*1)It was never going to happen. And he was useless as Daniel finally lost all hold on reality and lost consciousness. The boys' eyes closed with a sense of disbelief and anger, most likely aimed at him, as Danny's black and white jumpsuit became shapeless denims, white t-shirt and red Converse. ©

What on earth was he supposed to do now?

For most of the past year Vlad knew that somewhere along the line he had become blinded by avarice and hatred, as a result he had stopped seeing Daniel as a protégé or a son, and first and foremost as an enemy, a rival, a mere nuisance. But was that really what he saw this child as? He had every reason in the world to hate Daniel James Fenton. He had a right to, didn't he, god damn it…why were things so complicated? The child should be Daniel James Masters; his beloved son - not Jack's. And Maddie should be his beautiful wife - not Jack's. But then, if Daniel had been his, would the boy have got ghost powers? The answer was simple. No, he would not. Vlad would have made sure his Little Badger never had to experience what he had endured; he would have kept his child away from his inventions and dangerous contraptions. Which reality was more beneficial to him?

But it didn't really matter either way…what Vlad was left with was an unconscious Daniel James Fenton; the 15 year old son of his hated 'friend' Jack, a child with a hero-complex, which he had all but given up on resolving. The question was; did he truly see the child as an enemy, as an annoyance that needed terminating? Or as a child whom he cared for as his own that needed help? There was an extensive difference between the two…so how had he gotten them so mixed up?

He groaned in anger at his own stupidity, of course he cared for the child…enough to want him as a son, enough to spend thousands trying to clone him, and enough to help him when he clearly needed it. Vlad had never thought this his weak lightning blast could cause this. Was it in fact his fault after all? Had he developed a new power that was completely unaware of? Impossible he decided, and gently lifted the slumbering teenager into his arms.

Thankfully his actions were met with no resistance, and he teleported them both in a flash of pinkish smoke back into the mansions damaged sitting room. Now that he was able to look at it, his luxurious room appeared to have been bombed by Pariah Dark himself. The seven servants now floated in human forms about the room each one surveyed the damage incredulously.

"If I've asked you once, I've asked you a thousand times; do NOT make another…" Marion began with a red and flustered face as she turned round to face her employer. But she stopped as she took note of the unconscious child in the man's arms.

"Will you just…fix the damage…?" Vlad sighed and indicated the broken wall and layer of dust that covered the room. As they had done countless times before all seven of them used their weak energies simultaneously and pieced the wall back together. With their combined telekinetic abilities the room was covered in the familiar green glow of ectoplasm, it enclosed every inch of the room. They were able to piece back every individual fragment of plaster and brick, and every speck of dust was brushed away from the furniture.

It was an effective approach to damage control and had saved him from a lot of unwanted attention in the past. If it was life or death he supposed he could do a similar thing as well, but the seven of them had weak energies that combined well as Spectrals, who were in general, more proficient at telekinetic manipulation than other ghosts. But it didn't stop Marion, Ally, and Elyn from cleaning the whole mansion from top to bottom the old fashioned way. Perhaps it was tiring for them; to fix up the messes he created to his homes, but that didn't seem to deter them.

Once the job was done he laid Daniel onto the now immaculate crème sofa, as he did so he felt something fall from the boy's pocket. The still floating Larson picked it up and unfolded a piece of flimsy paper, no doubt to check whether it was 'garden worthy.' With a look of disappointment the Spectral held it out to Vlad; clearly it wasn't to his tastes. The man stared at it in confusion, what was this? It looked like a microscopic view of a bacteria…he could tell it was ghostly, it had the faint green glow of ectoplasm, but he couldn't tell what it was.

He considered himself well versed in the sciences, both ghostly and human, but this was something that was unfamiliar to him. In all his years of study this had never been brought to his attention. A new discovery to Vlad was like Christmas is to a child and he smiled at the prospect. But what was Daniel doing with this? Should he take it analyse it himself, if he did he could satisfy both his curiosity and show the boy he cared for him? A selfish cause perhaps, but with good intentions.

So he folded it back up and pocketed it, "Inform me if the child wakes up," Vlad told them as he draped a soft fleece blanket over Daniel's sleeping form and then left for his lab. The Spectrals stared at each other for several seconds and at the prospect of having to be quiet so they didn't wake the sleeping boy for possibly hours on end they sighed collectively.

"Alright, go…I'll stay…" Ally suddenly said decisively.

"You're sure?" Marion asked with a quizzical eye.

"Mmm hmm," she nodded, appearing indifferent. With that the rest of them flew out of the room to continue their chores, and Maddie the cat, who had so often witnessed the strangeness that frequented this house, watched with wide eyes and merely added; "Meow."

Alothea's emerald gaze never wavered from the Ghost Boy's unmoving form. To a passer-by it may have merely been concern for the child. But her expression told of something different, something indistinguishable and vague. She could sense something was very wrong with the boy…something that unnerved her. She wanted desperately to look, to discover the source of her fear, but she had been compelled not to do anything of the kind. So she waited…and she watched. The boy took uneven shallow breaths and moaned in his sleep. Perhaps he was dreaming, she had forgotten what it was like to dream, when one cannot sleep one cannot dream. But at the same time she could…she just had to dream while she was awake…it was a strange cataclysm to be sure.

Often she was envious of her employer, whether he saw it the same was as she did was arguable at times, but she had always believed that he and the boy were given the better of two separate worlds. To be alive and dead at the same time seemed so…incomprehensible, and perhaps a little unfair. But she had not choice in the matter, she was dead and that was that. She would play her cards as best as she could, and hope that things would work out in the end…

Vlad gazed down at an antiquated tome with a faded cover and what was once a proud crest now worn on the cover. It was one of his most prized possessions, besides his Packers memorabilia of course. It was a book written by the Ancients, worth an untold fortune in both realms, and contained more expedient knowledge than the modern internet itself . Its aged appearance was due to the fact that once out of the 'Dark Zone' the artefacts of the Ancients began to age and wither just as any other antique would. But Vlad had it well cared for. 'Scientia collectivu,' was declared boldly on the cover, it was Latin for 'Collective Knowledge.' Many people believed that the language was of human origin from around the 6th century, but they were mistaken. Latin had been the language of the Ancients before mankind had learnt to walk, they had given humans the language; or rather we had taken it from them,however one chose to look at history. (*2)

Vlad had researched everything he could discover about the mysterious group of Spirits, but he had found very little considering his efforts. This book was the culmination of 4 years of hard work and a lot of money. It worked telepathically; based on a store of knowledge of an immeasurable variety of topics it would show the owner their desired subject knowledge. Truly it was an amazing artefact that he would never part with.

Upon reaching his lab, he had of course, had his staff clean up the mess they had made, Vlad scanned in the image of what he assumed was a bacteria and let it search for appropriate matches. But after his computer had failed he had become slightly worried, his was a super-computer, he had government access to research facilities across the globe, and it couldn't tell him what this was. It had caused a flash of panic. How had Daniel gotten hold of something that stumped a super-computer belonging to an inquisitive billionaire? He had not the faintest notion. So he had turned to his trusty 'Scientia collectivu,' and was currently scanning the pages for any remote likeness he could find.

As his lack of result continued he began turning the pages with anger and he could practically feel the animosity rising from the book. He hadn't been kidding when he said the book had a mind. It had to store the knowledge somewhere, and if it wasn't satisfied with its owner it would show you nothing. Vlad knew as it had shown him nothing for a month until he had finally calmed down and acted rationally. It had really, really pissed him off to know that a book could be so annoying. But it pulled its weight so he couldn't really complain.

He surprised himself when a suddenly noticed a striking similarity between the paper and the image in the book. Was it true? He had found it! Oh how he loved the feeling of success, it was like a drug!

After hours of searching his wait was over and he leaned eagerly over the tome to read its words, in Latin of course, but like many wealthy upper-class English boys he had learnt the language many years ago at Oxford. (*3) And it had proven to be unexpectedly useful in his life, both before and after he immigrated to America. And now as he looked down at the book he could at least be thankful to his parents about one thing.

"Glaciem calidum," he read aloud with impeccable pronunciation, and basically it translated as 'hot ice,' at such a contradiction Vlad frowned in confusion, had the book gone mad? Could books even go mad? He wouldn't put anything past this thing; it did technically have a mind of its own after all. But he read on, "A impetus ex letalis Calidae telum est iudicuim. It ardet victima manes et exterminant squod intus capax spiritus et homines. Et propter hoc incarceratum fuisse potestatedestructa."

Okay now he was really confused, it essentially said 'A lethal attack originating from CALIDAE's weapon of judgement. It burns the victim from the inside and is capable of destroying ghosts and spirits and humans. For this reason he was imprisoned and his powers were destroyed.' What the hell was a 'Calidae?'

Once again as the book registered its owners confusion the pages began to show a sepia image that started from a shadowy splotch. After a few seconds he was staring down at the image of his previous torture. Vlad almost yelled bloody murder and wanted to throw the book down and ignore what he had seemingly discovered. But he didn't, somehow he managed to stop himself, he knew the book would no doubt favour him with another month of silence if he did so. And that would cause him some problems.

He stared down with angry red eyes at the shape of what he had learnt was called the 'Calidae,' an Ancient creature who had recently seen fit to destroy Vlad's mansion and almost taken his life. It was indeed a strange looking being to behold when you actually had the chance to study it rather than evade the thing. It had two coal black eyes and a cruel sadistic expression on its face. There were twin long spiralling horns, thin and pointed on either side of its head and its skin was an intimidating shade of coal black. The beast had no legs; instead it seemed to favour a spectral tail that spiralled with white and black air. On its fingers it had long claws and in its right hand there rested a long black staff with a glowing golden sphere at the top. And there lay the tattered remains of a purple hooded cloak on his neck and shoulders. (*4)

Altogether it gave of an image of power and majesty, intimidation and pride mixed together to create a powerful create that must have caused enough damage to make the Ancients intervene. The only instance he knew of where that had happened had been with Pariah Dark, and that had only been as a last resort, so this Calidae must be one serious customer. With a look of trepidation discovery Vlad left the book safely locked away and decided it was time to check on the Ghost Child sleeping on his couch.

A.N. I really put Danny through a lot in this one huh? Am I a teeny tiny bit sadistic d'you think? Oh well, things will improve…eventually. And I am no longer just writing a load of random crap, I worked on my plot and I think I actually have a system now. Next time I will try to work the other way round!

(*1) for anyone who doesn't know the rules to chess it is basic that the two kings cannot checkmate each other as they can only move along their own coloured ranks and files – the squares on the board.

(*2) I used Latin because I couldn't be bothered to come up with my own language, it would be too tiresome and I don't have an unlimited amount of time to write, so Latin it was. Also I think it's a beautiful language. It just sounds so archaic and I think it eclipses very well, the way I imagine the Ancients to be.

(* 3) I decided to make Vlad English because personally I think he sort of sounds it in the cartoon and I have read plenty of fics where he is like German or Russian or whatever, and I wanted to be different! On Wiki it does suggest that he has some Russian descent and I may add this in on later chapters, maybe just hinted, but I don't think this will be too important in my story though. Maybe his mother's father's grandfather or something was an Orthodox Slavic immigrant in the Industrial Revolution. Or from the Russian Revolutions and they had a tradition of keeping family names hence his name Vladimir, which by the way I LOVE! But we'll see…

(*4) Not sure if anyone remembers what the, what I call the 'Ancients' look like. In the episode 'Reign Storm' when Skulker explains about the 'last ditch effort to defeat Pariah Dark...' But they were green skeletons with purple cloaks. The tattered rags on the Calidae are meant to echo this!

Until we meet again; au revoir, mes chers lecteurs!