Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.. :(

__________________________________Flashback___________________________________

The sun shone brightly over Amity Park that summer afternoon. It had to be a near 95 degree day and across town at the park a young halfa rested on a barely moving swing. His face was covered in sweat and was bright tomato red from the blistering heat.

"Danny? You alright man?" His friend, Tucker, asked with concern. Danny glared at him. "Sorry, standard question."

Danny tried to smile but it turned out to be more of a weak grimace. He rubbed the back of his neck and slid off the swing onto the somewhat cooler ground. "I don't know Tuck," Danny sighed. "I'm so tired and weak and I feel like I'm falling apart. And the heat... It's torture."

The Goth next to him wrinkled her forehead in sympathy. She went to put her pale hand on his shoulder, but as soon as she touched him he flinched away from it in pain. "Geez Sam!" He exclaimed weakly. "Why are you so hot?!"

Tucker sniggered at his choice of words and Danny's hand flew to his mouth. "Err... That came out really wrong." But Sam was too deep in her thoughts to be embarrassed about his comment. She put the back her hand to her cheek and she felt, normal.

"Danny, what's your temperature been since your ice powers came?" The Gothic teen asked.

Danny cocked his head to the side in confusion and replied, "Uhh... just below freezing, 30 degrees fahrenheit. Why do you want to know?"

Sam's eyes widened as she reached over to Danny and pulled out her.... Thermometer? She stuck it in her best friends mouth.

Tucker, however, was beside himself in laughter. "Y-y-y-you c-c-carry around a t-t-thermometer in your pocket?! And they call me a loser!"

"No, of course not smart one, Mom made me buy her one today because she's coming down with something. Although, I added my personal touch..." Sam grinned and gestured at the skull and crossbones painted over the all black thermometer.

Everyone was quieted after that as they waited for the BEEP! But when it came Sam stared at the numbers and whispered distantly, "Get him in the shade, Tucker."

The techno geek did as she said and helped his friend to get under a tree. Sam soon followed with a bucket in her hands full of ice water and a wash cloth. Together they laid their sickly friend down and Sam showed Tucker the numbers on the small device. He paled at least three shades. The temperature was 40 degrees fahrenheit, ten degrees higher than it should be.

Danny closed his eyes and relaxed as his friends tried to cool him down with cold water. He zoned out when he started to regain his strength, but Sam brought him back to reality. "How does that feel Danny?"

A genuine smile lit up Danny's face. "Wonderful. I'm even getting some of my strength back."

His not girlfriend nodded in understanding and turned to Tucker. "Remember what Frostbite told Danny about his ice? He said it came from his core, so wouldn't that make him get a low temperature so he can make ice?"

Tucker's eyes closed in understanding. "And when you leave an ice cube out in the sun too long..."

"It gets too hot and melts," Danny finished. "So I guess I'll be needing some AC from now on."

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Danny opened his eyes to a familiar fruitloop inspecting his rib cage. Vlad rubbed his temples and

when he saw that the younger half ghost was awake, he groaned. "Damn Daniel, I need to put that rib back in place."

Danny was about to say something, but the pain around his chest prevented him from talking and he could barely breathe. So the tired teenager only nodded and closed his eyes, squeezing his eyelids together tightly, before reopening them.

Vlad raised an eyebrow at his response until he realized his almost apprentice couldn't breathe and set to work right away. He looked the wounded teenager right in the eye once he was ready and said, "This is going to hurt." Danny gave him a no duh, look. "So on the count of three then. One." Danny struggled for breath. "Two." Vlad inhaled deeply to calm his nerves. "Three."

Danny's eyes never left Vlad's as the reseting process began and the teen never once even screamed or flinched in pain. But that gave Vlad a very bad feeling. "Daniel," he prompted as soon as his rib was in the right place. "How many times have you broken a rib?"

"Um," Danny said weakly, "do you count it if I broke it more than once?"

"Yes." The older man said without hesitation.

"Well then that means I lost track after twenty four-" Vlad cut him off with a moan.

"You broke your ribs more than twenty four times and your mother never noticed?!" he yelled.

Danny shook his head. "Heck no, she's just too gullible. I accidentally forgot to make my arm visable once and she never noticed."

Vlad stared at him in confusion. The more he got to know this halfa the more confused he seemed to get. "Daniel, I'll never understand why you help these people when all you seem to do is get hurt. You can't win in your situation."

"I promised." Was all that Danny could answer with. He rolled over to face his back to Vlad.

"Oh, you are such a child! You promised?" Vlad unknowingly tormented Danny with the same words a certain Dan used not too long ago.

Danny's body went ridged as he turned back to Vlad. For a moment he forgot who was sitting in the room with him and Danny let out an unearthly shrieck, "Yes, I PROOOMMMIISSEEDDDDD!" The ghostly wail was unleashed and it sent Vlad to his knees with his hands around his ears, but Danny wouldn't stop.

Ignoring the pain and agony, Vlad dove out of the sonic waves and behind Danny. He started to shake the teen's shoulders to snap him out of it, but nothing seemed to work. The waves kept bouncing around the room, slightly weakening the walls.

"Daniel!" He screamed. Vlad racked his brains for an idea, but he soon found one on the floor, the note that had been given to Daniel probably by our captor. "Dan isn't here Daniel!" He screamed, not really knowing what he was talking about, but eager to stop the noise. "DAN ISN'T HERE!"

The waves disappeared abruptly and left Danny lying down, pressed against the wall. The young teenager looked wildly around the room and then let his eyes rest on the older man's. "Never. Say. Those. Words. Again."

"Daniel," Vlad began, ignoring Danny's threat, "who is Dan? AND WHY THE HELL DID HE CAPTURE US?!"

"Because he's me."

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You like? Please review and I just might have the next chapter out sooner.

kirby