Welcome to the chapter which led to my beta screaming and saying constantly "Vlad's going to help him, right?"

I just replied with a winky face. I'm a good friend.

Usual warnings, and well, onwards! ^^

Chapter 8;

She was late.

The Timey ghost, who'd insisted that they meet in the middle of nowhere, was late for her own meeting. It was almost ironic, and would be more so if she hadn't begged him to meet her away for prying eyes. Instead Positgen was worried. She'd sounded so upset last time they talked, and kept looking over her shoulder. Something was horribly wrong and Positgen had a sinking suspicion it was all his fault.

Something covered his eyes, and Positgen jumped. "Guess who?"

He forced himself to relax. It wasn't the Master of Time. Perhaps he really wasn't out for revenge. Positgen made sure he was speaking in Ancient Ghost, so that his companion wouldn't feel any pressure to speak in a language she struggled with. "Why are you trying to blind me, Little Miss?"

Hourglass teleported in front of him and made a disappointed fart noise with her mouth. "You're no fun." Her hood fell back and she made no move to fix it. Positgen frowned; if the Observants saw how little she cared for their rules, they'd likely both be in serious danger.

"You're looking better," He said, reaching forwards and pulling her hood back up. "You were so upset when we talked at the last meeting."

Hourglass nodded, "There's a good reason for that." She pushed her hood back down, "Positgen, you know a lot about Pariah Dark's Ghost Customs, don't you?"

"King Pariah Dark," He corrected, "And yes. I'm a Royal Sympathizer, aren't I? We follow all of King Pariah's laws. You know this, Little Miss, no matter how new you're one of us too."

Again, Hourglass nodded. "That's what I thought, but I, um, needed to be sure. And you know the laws really well, don't you? So you'd be the best person to ask about loopholes in them?"

Positgen floated back a step. "Where are you going with this?"

For a minute there was no noise but the calm buzz of the Ghost Zone, then Hourglass sighed. "The laws that the Observants enforce say that unless they say otherwise, the first being to encounter a new ghost becomes their guardian. Is that actually what King Pariah's law said?"

Positgen watched her carefully. That wording is wrong; the King's decree was that the first ghost to find one who had newly formed was to give them a name and find them a suitable guardian. But the way she's saying it... Hourglass can't be planning to go against the Observants, can she? "No," He replied, "The law says that upon finding a new ghost, you're supposed to find them a suitable guardian. Why?"

Hourglass wrinkled her nose, "Ugh, at least it's something. What about the ghost in their care? Their... charge, right? Is that the term? Can their charge decide where they reside?"

"Ward," Positgen corrected, "Charge was a slang term used by the Rebels. And no, not without input from the one who found them."

Hourglass threw her arms in the air, "Well that's just stupid! What if someone's hurting them, huh? What if they aren't safe in their home? What are they supposed to do then? Just go and break the fucking law?! Face the wrath of the Observants and that creepy Walker guy because they wanted to survive?! That's bullshit!"

Positgen moved further back, awkwardly waiting for Hourglass to finish her outburst. "That may be, but it's the law."

"Well fuck the law," She grumbled, "I wanted to avoid making them mad, but if the laws are that dumb then it looks like I'm committing high treason."

Positgen stared blankly at her. "I'm sorry, you're what?"

Hourglass put on an innocent face. "I said I'm going to become a professional criminal."

This is not happening. Positgen shook his head, swore in German, and switched to speaking in Modern Ghost. "Listen to me, Little Miss. You are not going to disobey the Observants! You'll get yourself destroyed, or worse."

Hourglass didn't look too happy about the change in language, but still switched with him. She spoke quieter now, wringing her hands together. "It can't be any worse than what he's going through. I don't mind hurting if it keeps him safe."

Him? Positgen shook his head again, "You can't put someone else's safety ahead of yours!"

Hourglass floated up, fists shaking at her sides as she looked down at him. "I have lots of people who'll protect me. Right now, he only has me. I'm not going to let them keep hurting him, Observants' rules be damned!"

Positgen grabbed her wrist and pulled her back down. "Listen to me. If your friend is in danger, they will step in. If not, then you have nothing to worry about. You're too young to be getting involved in other people's problems, anyway."

Hourglass pulled her wrist away and stomped her foot. "I'm not a little kid! I'm eight! And they aren't innocent! They're... they're bad, and cruel, and... and they have bad taste in clothes! The robes are dumb and anyone who likes them is dumb too!" To prove her point, she struggled out of the white robe she had on and threw it into the abyss below.

Again, Positgen swore. He grabbed both of Hourglass's wrists and pulled her close, staring into her eyes. Strands of hair had gotten loose from her braid, and somehow, a few of them ended up in his mouth. "Listen to me child, and listen to me closely. You are not going to throw your existence away for some... some... crush!"

She stopped trying to break away and looked up at him. Hourglass switched back to her native language, her voice dangerously calm in a way that reminded Positgen far too much of Clockwork. "I see," She said. "I am only a child. How dare I feel strongly about something due to moral ground. No, it must only be because of a girlish crush. Romantic attraction is the only reason young girls do anything, of course." She pulled her wrists free, spinning around so quickly that her braid smacked Positgen in the face. "Thank you for your input. I have enjoyed our friendship, but as you seem unable to grasp the simple concept of being a good person I believe it will be best if we part ways here."

Positgen rolled his eyes. "Being dramatic doesn't change the fact that I'm right!"

Hourglass ignored him. It occurred to Positgen that he'd probably crossed several lines by being difficult about agreeing with her. He just couldn't understand why she seemed so unable to believe the Observants weren't that bad. Then again, her worldview was twisted. She'd only seen how they interacted with Clockwork, who most certainly did not follow their rules. Of course she'd rather believe they were in the wrong than the small remainder of a family she had. If Hourglass could only see that the Observants were perfectly kind to those who followed their rules, she'd be much happier.

Positgen shook his head. He felt bad for Hourglass, and he knew that fighting with her wouldn't do either of them any good. If he could figure out more information about what she was trying to do, maybe he could stop it. "Hourglass!" He called, "You win! I'll help you!"

She didn't even bother to look over her shoulder. "I don't want your help anymore, you big jerk!"

"Aw, come on Little Miss!" He flew after her, "Don't be like that! I said I'd help you, and I will."

"After insulting me!" Her voice cracked, and Positgen stopped as she did. Was it just his imagination, or was the ectoplasm around Hourglass spinning? "I have to help him, but you don't care since you're too busy listening to the Observants. So I'll do it myself, and don't even think about trying to stop me. I know you're planning on it."

It wasn't his imagination. The ectoplasm around her was spinning. But that would mean... no. This area is stable. It can't be a natural portal, can it? "Hey, uh, Little Miss-"

"Don't call me that!" She turned to face him, face wet and fists shaking. "I don't want fake names, or nicknames, or anything like that! I want them to calm down and let me use my name! But you'd side with them. It doesn't matter when something's important to me, because jerks like you don't want me to have anything! I can't have friends who are happy, or- or family, or-"

"That's nice," He cut her off, "But you need to move. You're not-"

"No!" She stomped her foot and the ectoplasm spun faster, "I'm not listening to you, because you're not listening to me! I'm staying right here."

"That's not really a good idea!"

Hourglass put her hands over her ears, "I can't hear you!"

"Hourglass!" She replied by loudly singing something that wasn't remotely in tune. The ectoplasm around her was moving much faster, and when Positgen tried to point it out to her Hourglass simply closed her eyes.

Positgen stared at her for a moment and made a choice to do something that was both brave and very, very stupid. He tackled her out of the portal's range, hoping that his momentum would carry him through as well. Only, it didn't.

Hourglass pulled her hands off her ears and whispered his name. She reached a hand towards him and Positgen, numbly, moved to grab it.

He didn't try to run. He didn't stand a chance as the small portal was forced to form and his core was split apart, and the energy from within it forced into the body of a college student.

But that was twenty years ago.

.-.-.-.-.-.

When the door opened again, Vlad was ready to strangle whoever was on the other side. Daniel poked his head in, and Vlad forced himself to be calm. "Can I help you?"

"Er, no." Jack's son pulled his head back. "Sorry."

Vlad waved him off, and when the door clicked shut he groaned. Teenagers. It was hard to believe that he'd ever been that insufferable.

Something shifted behind him, and with another groan Vlad spun his chair around. "Four days," He said, "Exactly how does that fit into the phrase 'I'll be back in an hour'?"

Positgen Plasmius, who was holding an ice pack to his cheek, rolled his eyes. "Yes, I have realized that I'm a moron. Thank you for pointing that out."

Paperwork forgotten, Vlad made his way over to the chair the ghost was sitting on. "What did you do to your face?"

"I tried to fight a teenager."

Vlad raised an eyebrow. "What a detailed explanation. I'm impressed you managed that."

"Ha ha, sarcasm, that's definitely what I needed to improve my day." Positgen pointed to the chair. "You might want to sit down. This could take awhile."

Vlad did. Positgen rubbed the uninjured side of his face before he spoke. "I was gone for four days because I needed to deal with my boss-"

"-And are you finally going to tell me who that is?"

"Absolutely not. I'm not dragging you into this." Positgen ignored Vlad's obvious annoyance as he continued, "However, my boss wasn't there, because apparently he did something he shouldn't have. Anyway, that led to me meeting with his boss, who is a horrible person and if she ever comes near you I'm going to burn her. Anyway- am I boring you already?"

Vlad, who'd taken to rubbing the sides of his head, quickly lowered his hands. "No, of course not. I'm just tired. Carry on."

Positgen didn't continue his story, instead choosing to look Vlad over. "How much sleep did you get last night?"

Vlad motioned to his desk, "Absolutely none."

"Right," Positgen stood, "That settles it, then. You go to your room and sleep, and I'm going to finish this all up for you."

Vlad sighed, "As tempting as the offer is, I'm going to have to pass. The Fentons are here, and I can't have them getting suspicious about us. Not to mention, you still owe me an explanation!"

"Whoa, whoa-" Positgen held up both his hands, and the icepack landed on the floor with a disappointing squish. "They're here? Already? But the reunion isn't until Thursday!"

"For whatever reason, they thought they should arrive two days early." Vlad smiled at Positgen's furious look. It was nice to have someone who unconditionally took his side.

"Well that's ridiculous!" He made a wild motion with his hand, smacking it into the wall. "After twenty years, they just show up with minimal warning- did they give you a chance to prepare? Of course they didn't, they're Fentons! And Fentons are selfish slobs who don't care about anyone but themselves!"

"Except for Maddie," Vlad said.

"Maddie doesn't count for a Fenton," Positgen said, "Besides, once this all works out, she'll have her proper place beside you as a Masters. By the way, have you triple checked every possible outcome of Project Vengeance yet?"

Vlad rolled his eyes, "I wish you wouldn't call it that. But yes, I have. If this works Jack will be humiliated and forced to watch his life fall apart around him while I stand victorious, and I will be able to have my second chance at everything he stole from me."

"Still sounds like vengeance to me. But until then-" He pointed to the door. "You go sleep. I doubt that anyone important will notice me before I can turn invisible, and I promise I will tell you everything once you've rested."

His words held sense, and Vlad was too tired to argue. "What about the teenager who injured you? Is that someone I should worry about?"

Positgen waved a hand, "Taken care of. I have him contained- he's a ghost, just so we're clear, and he's in the lab. I'm running a few experiments to figure out how he got in here. By the time I'm done he'll sing like a canary and won't even know he's doing it."

Vlad shook his head, "Just keep it quiet. Don't let any of the Fentons know about you or what you're doing. Watch out for Jasmine; she takes after her mother. And Daniel happens to like the pool."

Positgen rolled his eyes, motioning to the door. "I'll worry about them, you worry about sleeping. Go on, get going!" He shooed Vlad out of the room, "I've got everything under control! Nobody will find my project until I'm done, I promise."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny felt gross.

His skin felt like it was coated in a thick layer of squirming slime, and no amount of scrubbing in his hour-long shower had been able to get it to stop. And, because apparently the world decided that his suck cake needed some icing, Prince had disappeared.

Normally if the ghost was missing for a few hours, Danny wouldn't pay any attention. Prince came and went as he pleased and for the most part Danny was okay with that. But he hadn't been comfortable around Vlad, and it had been four hours since Danny had seen Prince last. Not to mention the fact that only ten minutes before, his ghost sense had led him to Vlad.

Something was wrong here. Something was very, very wrong. Danny clenched his fists, trying not to give in to the twisting feeling in his gut which was begging for a breakdown. He needed to find Prince.

"Danny?" He jumped a foot into the air and spun around at the sound of his sister's voice. "I was just going to come find you! Come on, I brought some macaroni in from the RV for you." She grabbed onto his wrist, pulling Danny through the doorway. "After that, Mom and Dad are going to go get Mr. Masters so we all can watch some movies together."

"Uh, that's nice," Danny said, contemplating whether or not turning his wrist intangible would be worth it. "But, uh, I was kind of in the middle of a call with Sam and Tucker, so I really should get back to that-"

"Your computer was shut down, Danny." She pulled him into the dining area.

"Okay, first of all," Danny said as his sister set him down at the table, "Don't look in my room; that's creepy. Second, I turned it off to save power. You know my battery sucks and dies randomly."

"Still," Jazz said, handing him some macaroni and a fork. "This is really important to Mom and Dad. Tucker can wait."

"And Sam." He pointed his fork at her, "Don't forget Sam." Don't forget key details of my stupid lie.

Jazz pursed her lips together. "Right, Sam." She watched Danny eat for a second, "Danny, you know I only want to protect you, right?"

Danny nodded, not really listening. The sooner he finished his lunch, the sooner he could slip away and go back to looking for Prince.

"Do you know what type of person Sam is?"

"Uh..." He swallowed, "She's protective, ultra-recyclo-vegetarian, and she's a giant nerd about plants. Oh, and she hates bullies and the A-list, which are technically the same thing anyway."

Jazz frowned, "Danny, it's not nice to overgeneralize like that."

"You know what's also not nice? Grabbing your brother by the wrist and dragging him places."

"I made you food."

Danny shrugged, shoveling more macaroni into his mouth. "That's beside the point."

"Don't speak with your mouth full, little brother." Jazz tucked a strand of hair behind her right ear. "I'm only looking out for you, Danny. That's all I've ever tried to do. And I just think you should be careful around her. The rumors about Sam aren't all wrong, you know."

Danny gripped the fork tighter. "Rumors? Jazz, what are you talking about?"

Jazz rested her hands on the table, looking at Danny with what seemed to be pity. "Samantha Manson-"

"Her name's Sam."

Jazz ignored him. "-Rebecca Blackwaters, and Mia Bynes have been an infamous trio since kindergarten. They'll pretend to be having a fight, say they're going their separate ways, and work their way into other people's lives. They gain their trust, pretend to be their friends, and then use everything they've learned to hurt them. Danny, they pit people against each other for the fun of it."

Danny shook his head. "Sam wouldn't. She hates people like that."

"How do you know?" Jazz asked, "Danny, you may have been going to school with her since kindergarten but you know nothing about her!"

"Oh, and you do?" He pushed his half-filled bowl of macaroni away, "She's my friend, Jazz, and she wants to help me as much as Tucker does. I don't know what kind of rumors you've been hearing but that's not Sam!"

"I knew you wouldn't listen to me," She sighed, "I just want to help."

"Well, stop. Because you're not." Danny stood, "I have stuff to do with my friends, who are not liars and do care about me. I'm not hungry anymore." He left the room, and instead of heading back towards his room, focused deep on the feeling in his gut. Come on, Prince, where are you?

"Danny!" He jumped as his dad threw open a door and caught him in a hug. Danny squirmed, trying to get in a position where his ribs didn't feel like they were being broken. "Come on, we're just setting up! Your mom will be bringing Vladdie in soon!" He pulled Danny into the room, and away from his search for Prince.

Danny grunted as he was dropped in a chair, a popcorn machine in the corner catching his eye. Right, rich.

Jazz came in a minute later, and started helping their dad look through movies in the cupboards. "Why does he have so many romantic comedies?"

Jack looked over and shrugged, "Dunno, Vladdie always seemed to be more into horror."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Vlad likes horror movies?" He tried to picture the billionaire watching something like The Ring, cuddling with a huge pillow out of fear. He snorted at the image.

Maddie led in an obviously annoyed Vlad a moment later, and directed him to a spot on Danny's left. He looked exhausted, and Danny sent the billionaire a sympathetic look. He knew how stressful his parents could be.

That didn't mean he liked the man who had potentially stolen his friend.

Jazz sat down on Danny's other side, and thinking back to what she'd said about Sam, Danny moved closer to Vlad. The older man gave no sign that he was aware of what Danny had done, and instead looked as if he was about to fall asleep. Unfortunately for Vlad, his naptime was postponed when Jack threw an armful of DVDs into his lap. "You get first pick, V-man!"

Vlad looked like he was ready to strangle Jack, and Danny considered moving closer to Jazz. Instead he moved closer to Vlad just to spite her.

Eventually a movie was picked, and Danny tried to pretend he was paying attention. Internally however, he was running over every part of the house he'd seen. Prince had to be somewhere, and Danny knew he was in trouble. I should've started looking sooner. He looked around, trying to think of an exit route. And then he felt pins and needles climb up his right side.

It took Danny seconds to realize that he was too far away from Prince. He moved to the left, closer to Vlad, dread rising up in his gut. The door was on the right side of the room; he was trapped.

Three more seconds passed without an incident, and Danny could feeling something in his chest ache. The pins and needles left, and Danny tried to ignore the confused looks Vlad was giving him as he cuddled with the man's arm.

He needed to find Prince.

And he needed to do it now.

.-.-.-.-.-.

The round ended as Infinite swore, and Stopwatch decided that if this damn game went on much longer he was going to stab him again.

"Okay," Infinite was saying now, gently tapping the burn he now had on his arm. Apparently, if Stopwatch disconnected his own shield, it would break his teammates' as well. Who knew? "That plan could have gone better."

Time Turner, who'd given Infinite his new injury, looked horrified. "I am so sorry."

"Are you certain you don't want to switch teammates?" Gabriella asked, looking Team Batali Mi over in concern. Stopwatch didn't blame her; they'd lost every round, horribly.

"Absolutely," Tempest said, leaning on Infinite. "We suck, but we suck together."

Time Turner raised his eyebrows, looked over the team, and looked up at Ghostwriter. The taller ghost shrugged and moved back to their side of the field.

"Alright," Gabriella said, reconnected their shields, and stepped back towards the center of the island. "I think this should be our last round. Any suggestions for our grand finale?"

"Oh, don't quit on our account," Infinite said, "We're improving. We lasted a full twenty minutes that time!"

"We would have lasted longer if our VIP hadn't been a fucking idiot," Tempest said, glaring back at Stopwatch. He shrugged; apparently being their VIP in that round meant he wasn't supposed to get hit. And apparently it had to be him because he was 'good at dodging.' And apparently breaking the shield attached to his hand did not make it so he could protect Hourglass and not throw the match, but instead meant the others could get hurt while they automatically lost. This whole situation could have been avoided if they'd just explained it to him in the first place.

"Tempest, stop!" Hourglass spoke up, "Why do you have to be so mean to him?"

"I'm mean to everyone," She waved a hand dismissively, "Don't feel special."

Infinite took a step away from her, leaving Tempest leaning on air. She didn't seem too bothered by it. "Alrighty then, Edgy McEdgerson."

Time Turner cleared his throat, looking more awkward than normal. "Is everyone okay with doing another VIP round?"

He was met with a chorus of "Yes," while Stopwatch crossed his arms and looked away. Why can't we just have a food round. We just get a round object and see how much food we can put in it. That'd be a much better game than this.

Gabriella dumped them in their base, and Stopwatch floated out of the stream he'd ended up in. Hourglass flew over to his side, grabbed him by the wrist, and pulled Stopwatch to the bank with his teammates.

Infinite had tied his sweater around his waist- like a nerd- and looked like he was attempting to shove his cloak in his pocket. He was surprisingly successful. "Just so we're clear, I am not losing again."

"Well how do you propose we win?" Tempest asked, sounding more annoyed than usual.

"We surrender then punch Time Turner in his face?" Stopwatch suggested.

Infinite pointed a finger at him. "No." He crossed his arms, looking thoughtful for a second. "Okay; new plan... we don't die."

"That isn't new," Hourglass said.

Stopwatch rolled his eyes, "And it still isn't a plan."

"And we've already all failed it," Tempest raised her eyebrows. "So stop dicking around and get your fucking ass in gear."

"Jeez, so mean. Why do I have to come up with all the plans?" Infinite rolled his eyes, "Fine. Hourglass, since Stopwatch absolutely has to defend you, you can be the VIP. Tempest and I will go and invade the other team." He coated his hands in ectoplasm, "Let's do this shit."

Game On! etched itself into the sky, and the other two took off into the forest around them. Stopwatch glared at the area around him, arms crossed.

"I don't like this game," He grumbled.

"I know," Hourglass said, patting his arm. "But everyone else is having fun! Can you try not to look so grumpy, just for thirty more minutes? Please? It'll, um, be over soon, and then you never have to do it again!"

Stopwatch sighed, and nodded. He tried to smile, ignoring Hourglass' quiet laughter as he did. "That's better!" She poked his uninjured cheek, and Stopwatch poked her back. The two quickly dissolved into a snickering poke war, trying to avoid the other while still getting a poke in. With the amount of noise they were making, they were very easy for any of the others to find.

From the corner of his eye, Stopwatch saw a flash and quickly planted himself between it and Hourglass. Infinite landed roughly on the ground, rolling to the side and jumping to his feet. He frowned as he noticed the two of them. "Ah shit, I died didn't I?"

"Looks like!" Hourglass said cheerfully, "You want to, um, stay with us now? We're poking each other!"

"Cool beans." He dusted himself off, flicking a clump of blue mud from his shirt. "I'm just going to wait here for Tempest. There's no way she got out of that ambush."

"Ambush?" Hourglass covered her mouth with her hand. "Did they hurt her?"

"Oh, no!" Infinite said quickly, holding out his hands. "Of course they didn't! Unless our shields get broken again she's fine." Hourglass relaxed, and Stopwatch examined the shield marking on the back of his hand.

Infinite nodded, nudged the stream with his boot, and started taking pictures with his phone. After a few minutes, he put the phone away and awkwardly looked them over. "So, seen any good movies lately?"

Stopwatch pretended to be confused, "What's a movie?"

Behind him, a branch broke.

"Stopwatch!" Hourglass dug her elbow into his side. "We know what movies are, Infinite."

There was a loud thump, also behind him. Infinite raise an eyebrow as it was followed by a quiet apology. "Yeah, that's nice. Turn around, please."

Stopwatch waved a hand, coating his energy around something behind him. He pulled it forwards, floating a particularly ugly squirrel beside Infinite's face. "Hey, look, Time Turner sent out a spy."

The squirrel replied by melting. Stopwatch dropped it with a disgusting splat, Infinite looked like he was about to faint, and Hourglass nudged it with her foot.

"It didn't have a core," She said quietly, "Stopwatch, why did you grab a fake squirrel?"

Before Stopwatch could reply, he was shot in the back and forced to respawn.

After landing in the creek, again, Stopwatch could see Time Turner and his friend in one of the trees. He shot a violet coloured blast at them, but Ghostwriter pulled them both out of the way. Glaring at where they had been, he looked around for Hourglass. A second later, there was a flash of light and Infinite appeared beside him.

"Where's Hourglass?" He asked, looking around.

"She's not with you?"

"If she was with me, we would have lost." Infinite rolled his eyes, "Whatever. You find her, I'll find Tempest, and we'll go back to sucking at this fucked-up version of laser tag." He flew to the left. Stopwatch flew to the right. After another cheap shot from someone on Time Turner's side he found himself lying in the creek. Why.

Infinite landed on the bank, groaned, and looked over at Stopwatch. "Uh, are you okay?"

"Fuck you," Stopwatch replied, making no effort to get up.

"My girlfriend disagrees," Infinite hesitated before holding out a hand to help him up.

Stopwatch ignored it and made his way to the bank. He rushed back into the forest, only to end up back in the water. His third through fifth attempts ended much the same.

"You done yet?" Infinite asked.

Stopwatch looked away with a huff. "What do you want?" He threw his hands in the air, "If we leave our home base they shoot us, Hourglass is out there but still alive, and we lost Tempest. Don't tell me I have to deal with your shitty sense of humor too."

"I'm going to pretend you didn't insult my fantastic sense of humor." Infinite crossed his arms. "Anyway, it's a pretty good system. We're the best fighters, so they contain us."

"Bees in a jar," Stopwatch muttered, trying to figure out why Infinite's words had reminded him of such a weird phrase.

Infinite raised an eyebrow. "Not even gonna ask." He looked thoughtful for a second, as a smirk appeared on his face. "I've got a plan. How well is your reality manipulation working?"

Stopwatch raised his eyebrows.

Two minutes later, as Infinite screamed "release the bees!" and cackled like a madman, Stopwatch created a fake swarm of bees and shot them towards Time Turner.

Infinite took the lead as soon as he was down, moving with Stopwatch behind him. He made a motion with his hand and ducked into a rocky area, hiding them both behind a boulder. Infinite looked over at Stopwatch with a huge grin, holding up his fist. "Dude, nice!"

Hesitantly, Stopwatch bumped it and looked around the boulder. "Did we lose them?"

"I certainly hope so, because if I turn around and Ghostwriter's behind me I'm going to scream."

Stopwatch looked back to see Infinite look over his shoulder at the empty space behind them, pumping his fist in the air when it was revealed to be empty. Stopwatch found himself smiling, and forced his mouth back into a frown. Nope. Not funny. Not remotely funny.

A little ways away, Stopwatch could faintly hear someone shouting. Hourglass?

"Hey, we found her." Infinite said, pointing back towards the trees. "I'll go deal with those assholes, you make sure nobody shoots her." He pointed a pair of finger guns at Stopwatch, clicked his tongue, and moved quickly back into the forest.

Stopwatch hurried towards where she was shouting from, landing behind a rock. Hourglass, Tempest, and Gabriella were all in a valley. Hourglass' hood had fallen down and she sounded like she was about to start crying. "Pariah Dark did nothing wrong!" She screamed.

A little ways away, Tempest fell to the ground laughing.

"Oh, and Warrior Boy and Dark did?" Gabriella snapped back, and Stopwatch hid more behind the rock. This was definitely not something he wanted to get involved in.

"They destroyed children and families!" Hourglass screamed, tears building up in her eyes. "They did nothing good for the world! At least Pariah helped people!"

"He destroyed hundreds of the beings he had sworn to protect based on a rumor."

"Spread by the Rebels!"

"Prove it!"

Behind Stopwatch, someone landed. He looked back to see Ghostwriter standing there, frowning.

"Truce?" Stopwatch said, pointing over his shoulder at the argument behind him.

"Truce," Ghostwriter agreed, moving to look over the rock. "Are you going to stop them?"

Stopwatch could hear Hourglass crying as she tried to form an argument. He swallowed, clenched his fists, and said "No."

"Are you sure?" He asked as Stopwatch turned around, "Your friend is crying."

"I'm sure," He didn't make his way back to the rock, "This isn't something I can deal with for her."

"So you're not Royal, then?" Ghostwriter nodded, sounding as if he was talking to himself. "Good to know. What side are you on?"

Time Turner and Infinite appeared in a swirl of green ectoplasm, holding tightly to each other's arm. "Please tell me you're not talking about the divide," Time Turner groaned, watching his friend. "I know that look. If you start talking about the Ancients I'm going to punch you."

"You'd break your arm trying," Ghostwriter replied.

"To be fair," Infinite said, letting go of Time Turner and stepping away. "They're in a really interesting moral gray zone. Pariah Dark was a selfish prick with anger issues long before they showed up, but if he had snapped when they weren't there none of us would exist. But, still, they had to destroy innocent children to save the world. I can see why someone would find that interesting."

Ghostwriter scoffed, "I bet you could."

"Don't encourage him," Time Turner said, "I don't feel like spending the next four hours discussing the logic behind the war."

Stopwatch raised a hand, "I do." Nobody else ever talks about it.

"He only believed that because of Raine!" Hourglass' particularly shrill scream brought their attention back to the argument going on below them. Tempest, who was still on the ground, was watching Hourglass with an annoyed look. "If she hadn't spread that rumor-"

"Maybe she was used," Tempest snapped, "Did you ever think of that? Maybe the Royal Army didn't like how she spoke her mind, and they didn't like Clockwork or Tardis because their powers were too Rebel for their tastes. So they decided to get rid of them all in one fell swoop by making sure that the king's thirteen-year-old maid spread their lie. She only wanted to help, you ungrateful brat!"

"Oh jeez," Infinite stepped forwards, "Isn't anyone going to stop them?"

"Thirteen's old enough to know the truth from a lie!" Hourglass shouted back, "I'm thirteen, and I'm not an idiot!"

"You're a Royal," Gabriella said, "It's the same thing."

"No, seriously," Infinite said, "This is wrong. Someone needs to do something. Stopwatch? She's your best friend."

"I'm a Rebel," He said, "I don't want to get involved."

"Why would you be a Rebel?" Ghostwriter asked. "That entire group is a huge source of misinformation. While the Royals twist the facts, so many of the Rebels will outright lie about the events of the war in order to minimize the-" He stopped abruptly when Time Turner jabbed him with an elbow.

"You all suck," Infinite said, untying his sweater from around his waist with one hand and pulling his cloak out of his pocket with another. "Seriously, fuck all of you."

"Let's not," Time Turner said.

"Making sex jokes does not diminish the fact that you're all assholes. You look at two people who are attacking a teenager for having different beliefs than them and do nothing. This is wrong, and fuck all of you for ever thinking that it's right." He tossed Ghostwriter his ugly sweater and started to do up the clasp on his cloak. "Make yourself useful and hold this." He disappeared with a twist of green ectoplasm.

"Finally," Ghostwriter said, holding the orange sweater in his hands. Stopwatch smelt smoke.

"Don't you dare," Time Turner said.

Ghostwriter grinned and the sweater burst into flames.

"And you did it. Great. Good job Andrew, you burned a sweater. Are you proud of yourself?"

"Yes, Tyler, I am."

Infinite had reappeared right in front of Hourglass. "What is wrong with you?! Both of you!" For some reason, Time Turner groaned. "Are you honestly attacking a teenager because her beliefs are different than yours? Are you actually this petty?"

"She was fighting back," Tempest said.

"Of course she was," Infinite replied, "If someone came up to me and told me that everything I believed was a lie I'd fight back too."

"Why are you defending her?" Gabriella asked, "You're supposed to be on our side."

"I'm not on a side," Infinite said, "I fight for what is right, and regardless of your status attacking Hourglass like this is wrong." He held his hand back towards her, and Stopwatch frowned as she grabbed on. "Thank you for a wonderful game. However, for the time being, it may be best if we don't associate with each other again." He teleported them both away, and the remaining players returned to the original island.

"He protected that Royal Sympathizer," Gabriella crossed her arms, "Disgusting."

"You were fine with her before you knew which side she was on," Stopwatch said. "I don't get why you were so mad at her. I'm Rebel and I'm still friends with her."

"To be Rebel you have to accept the Master of Time as the singular ruler of the Ghost Zone," Tempest said. "Don't use our name when you don't follow our code."

"I'll use whatever name I want!" Stopwatch clench his fists, "It's my choice!"

The ectoplasm in front of him twisted, and Infinite reappeared. "You guys suck," He said. "You're on the same side and you're still trying to rip each other's throats out. Calm down and re-evaluate your priorities." He held out his hand to Stopwatch, much like he had done for Hourglass. "Because if you're this ready to fight each other, then this damn divide will get you all killed sooner than I thought."

Stopwatch grabbed Infinite's hand and found himself landing softly on a floating purple rock. Infinite let go, stepped away, and Hourglass threw her arms around Stopwatch.

"You were right," She sobbed, "I hate laser tag!"

"That's not fair," Infinite said. "It was pretty fun before you guys decided to live up to our team name."

"No it wasn't," Stopwatch said, awkwardly patting Hourglass on her back. "Let's never do it again."

.-.-.-.-.-.

It was nearly eight hours of movie watching and his parents rambling about weird old college stories later before Danny was able to get away from his family and Vlad. His parents had told him and Jazz to go set the table- apparently the RV had a barbecue, and Jack was making hamburgers- but the second nobody was watching Danny dove through the nearest wall and continued his search.

Danny frowned as he reached the pool, looking through the windows. Why did I come here? He shook his head and was about to turn around when something caught his eye. Weren't there three chairs before?

As he pushed the door open, Danny looked around and frowned. Weird. But not important. I need to keep looking. But the twisting feeling in his gut wouldn't let him leave.

Danny took several steps forwards, reaching the edge of the pool. There was something down there which shouldn't have been, and Danny stuck his head under the water to get a better look at it. It was a broken pen, much like the one Prince had been playing with.

Danny fished it out and turned it between his fingers, fiddling with it just as Prince had been hours before. Something caught his eye by the pool's filter, and he knelt down to touch it. It was thick, green, and felt like clumps of half-formed Jell-O. "Ectoplasm?"

The room almost seemed to start spinning, and Danny felt like he was about to fall over. He could see fragments of a scene playing out in his mind's eye. Prince had been thrown back and hit his head, crunching the pen he'd tucked behind his ear. He'd sunk under the water, only to be pulled back up... he'd been attacked, but by who? And why hadn't Danny felt anything? There'd been no emotions or pain from the ghost, no sense that he'd been in danger. Danny wrapped his arms around his midsection as he realized what the feeling in his gut was.

It was emptiness. Something had happened to separate Prince from him, and now Danny felt honestly ill.

He dropped the pen and rushed into the bathroom, kneeling beside the toilet and feeling as if he was about to throw up. Danny placed a hand on the wall to steady himself, breathing deeply. I messed up. I messed up bad. He told me there was something wrong with this place and I didn't listen. Danny leaned back, resting his head against the wall. Good job, Fenton. You've been his friend for less than a week and you've already failed him. This is why people hate you. He turned intangible and fell back through the wall, wondering if he'd suffocate when he became solid again.

Instead Danny found himself scrambling to his feet on the other side, eyes wide and sure he was only seconds away from a mental breakdown.

Polished with a shine of green and gold, what had to be Vlad Masters' lab was huge. A couple half assembled ghost-hunting weapons were placed on a counter, along with some camera-like device which Danny strongly considered smashing. Before he could do so, however, his attention was pulled towards a huge, green box on the far side of the lab. Danny felt himself being pulled towards it, and a second later he placed a hand on the glass. It was nearly impossible to see anything inside of it aside from a thick green fog, and no noise came from within. "Prince?" Danny asked, and knocked on it three times. "Are you in there?"

Five seconds passed, and there was a faint tapping noise.

"Prince?" Danny said hopefully, pushing his face up against the glass. "I'm going to get you out of there, but first I need to know you're okay."

More tapping, quicker this time.

Danny could feel his stomach do a flip and nearly threw up. Something was horribly, horribly wrong. "Prince?" He asked again, stepping back and grabbing the whistle. "Prince, is that you?"

Something crashed into the glass front of Danny. He yelped and fell back, shielding his face with his arms as he landed on his rear. When he lowered his arms, there was nothing there.

Danny licked his lips. "Okay," He whispered, moving back, "Okay this has crossed so many lines and I think I'm just going to... yeah..."

Something crashed into the glass again, but this time it stayed where it was. Danny froze, staring at the creature who growled back at him. No way.

To some degree, it was Prince. Danny could see his shoes, and though his hair was significantly more messy it was still his. But his body was littered with wounds, a few of which were dripping his green blood. The rest seemed to have ice crystals growing from them which were crawling across Prince's body. One his eyes was covered by the icicles hanging from his hair, while the other was pupiless and had green smoke rising from it. His clothing was tattered, and his nails had pointed claws of ice. Prince crashed into the glass again and hissed, tiny fangs appearing on his upper jaw.

"Prince," Danny muttered, "Holy crap, what happened to you?"

Prince snapped at him, ice claws scraping against the glass.

"I should've listened," Danny stood, stepping back as Prince crashed into the glass again. "You were right; about Vlad and about all this. He's creepy and I'm so, so sorry I brushed you off. I'm gonna fix this." There had to be a way to get him out. He could figure out what to do with Prince after he was free.

Trying to ignore the scraping on the glass in front of him, Danny moved around the tank. On the other side there was a black device hooked up to it, and if Danny squinted he could see that it was pumping out the fog. Prince was still crashing into the other side, trying to get away. Stupid Vlad. How dare he hurt Prince? Danny cracked his knuckles, stupid Mom and Dad for making us come here, he took a step back, and stupid Jazz for trying to convince me that my friends don't care about me!

Danny threw himself at the device, detaching it from Prince's prison and sending them both skidding across the floor. He crashed face first into the nearby wall and pain split through his nose.

"Worth it," Danny muttered, holding his shirt up to his nose stop the trickle of blood from it. It wasn't broken, thankfully, and the blood stopped after a moment. Danny sat up slowly, looking at the broken machine leaking ectoplasm beside him. He gave it a kick as he stood up for good measure. "Take that, you creep."

A weak noise caught his attention, and Danny snapped his head towards where Prince was. The fog had lifted, and Prince was lying curled up on his side. The ice had fallen off of him, and he was surround bed a small, slowly growing puddling of green.

He wasn't moving.

"No," Danny muttered, moving quickly towards the ghost. "No no no- Prince! Come on, don't do this!" He stopped as he passed where he'd ripped the black thing from. There was a hole in the side now, and though it wasn't very big, Danny wasn't either.

He didn't spare a moment to wonder how exactly he'd get out. Danny wiggled through the hole, landed awkwardly, and rushed over to Prince. He pulled him closer to the middle, biting his lip. Prince's eye, which had been covered by the icicle, had turned an ugly dark green and was swollen shut. What remained of his left sleeve was stained a bright, bright green. Danny laid Prince on his side and moved back, not sure what to do.

What couldn't have been more than a few minutes felt like an eternity. But eventually, Prince groaned and Danny moved closer, resting a hand gently on Prince's shoulder.

Within seconds, Prince had pulled away and flattened himself against the glass. "I'm sorry," He whispered, holding up his arms to shield his face as his form flickered. "I'm sorry I'm sorry please don't hurt me I'm sorry-"

"Whoa, hey!" Danny said, holding out his hands. "It's okay!" Prince lowered his hands, "It's just me. It's just Danny."

"Danny?" He squinted with his uninjured eye, "I- I can't see you. Everything's really blurry, and-" He lifted a hand, touching his injured left eye gently. "When did I hurt my eye?"

Danny relaxed, "You're okay." The twisting in his gut subsided as Danny felt a wave of soreness in his own eye. He shoved Prince lightly, a huge relieved smile taking over his face. "Don't scare me like that! I was really worried about you!"

"I'm sorry," Prince muttered, rubbing his arm. "Where are we?"

Danny lowered his voice, "I think it's Vlad's ghost lab. I broke in to come get you."

"What?" Prince reached out, grabbing onto Danny's leg. "Danny, that's dangerous! You're gonna get hurt!"

Danny raised an eyebrow, "You really think I'm going to leave you in his spooky lab of doom? What kind of friend would I be then?" He stood, holding out a hand for Prince to grab. "Let's get out of here. Can you walk?"

Hesitantly, Prince reached for Danny's hand.

And then Danny was yanked back, hitting his head on the opposing wall as it became very difficult to breathe.

The last thing he heard was Prince scream his name.

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Danny?!" Prince beat his fists on the hastily constructed shield between them, "Danny, no, no no no-" This was not happening. This could not be happening.

"Well," Positgen said in a stupid, slimy voice. "This is a surprise."

Prince snapped in the direction of the blurry figure standing beside his friend's limp outline. "Leave him alone!"

"I don't think I will." Positgen's outline disappeared, and Danny's got up. "Ugh, teenagers."

Prince stumbled back, hands on the sides of his head as he was bombarded with a feeling of wrong wrong WRONG.

"So this must be the one they call Warrior Boy." He took a few steps in Danny's body, "I must say, I expected something a bit more impressive."

"Get out of him!" Prince snapped, his voice losing its edge. Please.

"So much of his mind has been locked away," Not-Danny looked thoughtful, "I wonder... is it from denial of his crimes, or is it your doing? Did you want him to have a normal life, as a human?" He spat the word, and it felt so wrong to hear in Danny's voice.

"I didn't do anything to him!" Prince pleaded, trying desperately to clear his vision. "He's my friend!"

"So he did it to himself, then?" Positgen said, "Fascinating. I can't even access the surface of his thoughts."

You're overshadowing him but you can't see his mind? Prince blinked, saw a little clearer, and smiled. Danny, never stop being awesome. "You don't know anything about him. And you never, never will."

Positgen turned towards him, obviously confused.

"He's locked you out," Prince continued, crossing his arms and trying to pretend it didn't hurt to do so. "You're not the first to try doing something like that to him, and just like the others you've failed. You're going to get anything from him. All I ever really got from him was the ability to speak English and a couple names, and I'm closer to him than you could ever dream of being. Danny's mind is a ghost-free zone. No matter what assholes like you try to do, his mind is safe." Prince stood up a little straighter, "He wins, you lose." Fuck you.

Positgen growled and abandoned Danny's body, letting him fall limply to the floor. It occurred to Prince that they'd, somehow, gotten out of his prison while he could still barely see. "You seem to have misunderstood our situation," He said. "I don't care about you, or your little friend. What I want is information, and since you seem so reluctant to provide it," One of his hands lit up with ectoplasmic fire, "I find myself in a position where I'll have to resort to more barbaric measures."

Prince froze, staring at him. "Don't."

"Then tell me what I want to know," Positgen said, motioning to Danny, "And he'll be fine. If not, well..." He knelt down, moving the flame close to Danny's head. Prince smelled burnt hair.

"Danny!" He smashed into the glass, fingernails scraping against as he tried to turn intangible.

"An interesting fact about that unit," Positgen said, lifting Danny up. "It's based upon the royal barriers that King Pariah Dark used."

Prince pulled back, staring at him. "It's what?!"

"Oh, I've made some adjustments of course," He waved a hand, which was no longer on fire. "Reinforced it with a thick glass lair, forced it through a frame, and used several lighter versions within the walls to discourage unwitting humans from entering. And yet still, this boy managed to find his way here, into a room without doors." He lifted Danny up by the back of his shirt, and Prince watched his friend hang limply. "Now how did a human do that?"

"I don't know," Prince answered honestly, "He was here when I woke up."

"Liar," Positgen said, and his free hand once again lit up with ectoplasmic flames.

"I'm not lying!" He threw himself against the barrier, "I don't know how he got in here!" He probably turned intangible, but I can't say that. Danny will get really upset if I tell people, and then Positgen will hurt him.

"And why should I trust you?" Positgen said, "You broke into my home, put someone I care about in danger, and somehow led this thing into my lab."

Prince stared at him, and he stared at Danny.

Danny, who liked bad puns and dogs. Who made Prince food and bought him stuff to draw with. Who'd gotten him his doll despite how horrible Prince had been, and opened his home when Prince hadn't deserved to be warm.

Danny, who'd kept giving Prince more chances even as he deserved them less and less. He'd decided they should be friends, and kept the offer open until Prince was ready. He let Prince try again when he made a mistake- and he made a lot of mistakes. Time after time, Danny had tried to make things better for him, and Prince had done nothing to help him.

"You really think I'm going to leave you in his spooky lab of doom? What kind of friend would I be then?"

It wasn't worth it. Danny's life wasn't worth his.

Prince wiped the ectoplasm off of his right wrist and held up his birthmark. "Because my name is Prince Phantom. Now, please, could you release my friend?"

Positgen looked shocked, but lowered Danny. "Prince Phantom," He repeated, and Prince's core twisted, and he tensed as he tried to fight the impending order off. No! No no no no- "What are you doing here?"

No, no, no! Don't do this! It's not an order it's just a question don't do this! His core felt as if it was about to fall apart, and before he could stop himself Prince was telling Positgen everything.

When the order had run its course, and Prince was back in control of his own body, he felt the need to throw up when he saw Positgen's wide, fanged smile. "Fascinating."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny woke up in his pajamas and staring at his bed's canopy. "Am I dead?" He muttered, rubbing his neck. Everything is pain.

"Nah," Prince said, and Danny looked over to see the ghost sitting in a chair right beside his bed. He'd wrapped himself up in a thick quilt, and was looking slightly better. "You're okay."

"Cool." He rolled onto his side, "How's your eye?"

Prince shrugged, one of his eyes still swollen shut. "I still don't know how I hurt it, but I can almost see things now. That's good."

Danny nodded, licking his lips. "Did I pass out or something?"

Prince hesitated, looking away as he nodded. "Yeah. There was some, uh, really bad ectoplasm in that thing. You must've breathed it in."

"Yay, lung cancer. Just what I needed." Danny groaned, sitting up in bed. "So you brought me back here?"

Prince opened his mouth to reply, but stopped as he saw Danny's ghost sense. Danny turned to the other side of the bed just in time to see another ghost phase through the floor. His skin was pale blue, and his black hair was slicked back. He had a package of papers in hand and looked over it with solid red eyes.

"Blood pressure is normal, temperature normal, and no boils on the face. He's got quite the tolerance for impure ectoplasm, unlike you, Mr. Superior Pure-level core." He licked his finger and flipped a page, "I would recommend that you..." He trailed off, looking up and noticing Danny. "Oh, he's awake." He bent down, examining Danny curiously. "Positgen Plasmius, pleasure to meet-"

With a scream, Danny pulled his left foot free from the covers and kicked Positgen in the face. He rolled to the right and out of the bed, grabbing Prince and pulling him out the door. "Go, go, go!"

"Danny, wait!" Prince called, and Danny forced the two of them together.

"No time!" He called, trying to get them off the ground. "Prince, flying's faster! Help me out here!"

"But he's not-"

"I don't care! Just do it!"

Prince seemed to shrug and the gravity turned off. Danny yelped as he found himself on the roof.

"Prince, you aren't helping!"

"I noticed."

Something was wrong with Prince's tone, but Danny didn't have time to worry about it. He forced them intangible and through the roof, hoping that would be enough of an escape for now.

Now in a huge, poorly-lit bedroom, Danny forced them apart and glared at the ghost beside him. "Thanks for your help. Prince, what was going on there? Who was that guy?"

Prince, who'd been messing around with one of his shirt's destroyed sleeves, shrugged as he looked up. "I don't know, my core hurts." He frowned, looking at something behind Danny. "Um," He said, poking Danny's shoulder several times. "Um."

"What?" Danny looked over his shoulder and froze.

Vlad Masters stood there, his hair loose and his jaw slack. A book lay half-open and forgotten on his bed as hesitantly, the man moved towards him. "You two... were you just...?"

"I can explain!" Danny shouted, turning fully around and using his hands as a shield. "I can- wait. Prince was in your spooky lab." He pushed the ghost back a little, "Get away from us or I swear to god I'll get my parents up here!"

Vlad stopped, "Your parents... know about him?" He looked a bit ill.

"Well, no- yes!" Danny pointed a finger at Vlad, stepping back too as he tried to lie. "Yes they do and- and if you don't let us go they'll- they'll- they'll come up here and kick your butt!"

Vlad stared at him. "But you two were together."

"I think we broke him," Prince said, moving to stand beside Danny.

"Wait," Danny said, lowering his accusing finger. "Was he the one who put you in that thing?"

Prince frowned, "Uh, no? He's creepy, not a ghost. That was the other guy. Positgen. The blue one."

Danny pulled his hand back, "Oh. Well," He looked back toward the shocked Vlad, "This is... awkward." He took a step back, "Kind of very awkward."

"You two were together," Vlad repeated, moving towards them. "You two were-"

"Please don't tell my parents!" Danny burst out, holding out his hands. "I lied they don't actually know! And I can't tell them since it was their portal that got Prince stuck to me and they won't take it well and they might dissect him or something-"

Prince reached over and put his hand over Danny's mouth. "You're dreeeaaaming," He dragged out the word, making spooky motions with his fingers, "Go back to sleeeeeep."

Danny pushed Prince's hand away, "How is that helping?"

"How is telling him everything about us helping?"

Danny frowned, considered that, and started copying Prince. "I am the dream Danny," He said, "I'm not reaaaal."

Vlad stared at them, one hand over his mouth and looking as if he was about to cry. Danny and Prince exchanged an awkward look before moving backwards, towards the door.

"I'm a figment of your imagination," Danny said, "Lay down and I'll go awaaay." His spooky hand motions were cut off by his ghost sense, and Danny whirled around to see Positgen enter the room.

"Seriously? I try to be nice, and you-" He cut off, noticing Vlad. "I'm going to start drugging you if you don't sleep."

Vlad lowered his hand, "You knew about this?" He didn't finish. Danny and Prince exchanged an awkward look and moved a little to the left. Vlad's eyes never left them.

"I only found out a couple hours ago," Positgen said, "I didn't want to wake you. You need to sleep. If the whole insomnia thing is back again then I'm forcing you to go to a doctor tomorrow."

"You didn't want to wake me?" Vlad repeated, glaring at the ghost. He took a step forwards, his voice taking on a very dangerous tone. "Positgen Plasmius, I'm going to-"

"Hi," Danny said, waving a hand to stop the upcoming argument before it started. "I have no clue what's going on here."

"Danny," Prince said, grabbing onto his arm and pointing at Vlad. "Didn't he have a portal accident too?"

Danny's eyes went wide and he stumbled back, crashing into Prince. "Portal accident?" He forced himself and Prince together once again, staring at Vlad. "You... you're like... he's like us, Prince!"

Vlad smiled, and held out a hand in Positgen's direction. Positgen grabbed it with a huge grin, and a dark light overtook them. When it cleared, floating across from them was one being. There was Positgen's hair with Vlad's length, styled into two points. Vlad's smile, with Positgen's fangs. There was Positgen's skin and eyes, but it was Vlad's face. His clothing didn't seem to belong to either of them, though.

Danny separated from Prince, and Vlad separated from Positgen. The two humans faced each other, neither quite sure of what to say. Danny was just about to open his mouth to say something when Vlad abruptly rushed at him, pulling Danny into a tight hug. "You're like me," He said quietly.

"I'm like you," Danny repeated, arms pinned at his sides. "I didn't think there was anyone like me. I- I tried not to think about it, since distracting myself and ignoring problems is so much easier than dealing with things, but I'm not alone and there is someone like me..." He trailed off, phasing an arm free and returning the hug. "You're like me! You've got a ghost and maybe the powers and- and you're awesome! You're like me!"

Behind them, Positgen clapped his hands together. "So, now that that's out of the way, who wants to sleep?"

"I kind of want a pretzel, actually." Prince said.

Danny started laughing, and Vlad joined in. It was a loud, deep laugh, much like Jack's was.

"You're like me," Danny said again, pulling away.

Vlad smiled down at him, "And you, dear boy, are like me."

Behind them, Positgen smiled, ignoring the glare Prince sent his way. "Seriously though, you guys need to sleep." The humans ignored him, and so he bent down to whisper something in Prince's ear. Prince tensed, grabbed Danny, and phased them both through the floor.

Danny yanked his arms away, glaring at the ghost who was trying to make himself smaller. "Why would you do that?! Prince, they're like-" He stopped, a wave of Prince's fear hitting him. "Are you okay?"

"Fine," Prince lied, wrapping his arms around himself.

"Dude, I can feel your emotions." Prince looked up at that, "You're not fine. What's wrong? Did one of them do something?"

Prince licked his lips and shook his head, "Nothing. It doesn't matter. You do need to sleep, though." He grabbed Danny's sleeve and started pulling him down the hall. "C'mon."

.-.-.-.-.-.

Maddie had gone to bed that night disappointed with her youngest child.

She knew he was struggling, but the way he'd left before dinner was beyond rude. She was sure that Vlad would be furious with Danny, and that would cause more problems than she could solve in two days. Without a miracle, the main reason for their trip would be crushed.

She expected Vlad to hide himself away all day once again, ignoring the world and focusing only on his work. It was unfortunate, but not unexpected.

She had not expected to see Vlad standing in the kitchen, wearing a hideous green and gold apron. He turned towards her as she entered, spatula in hand and a wide smile on his face. "Maddie! Tell me, does your son like omelets?"

Maddie stepped back, several red flags rising within her mind. "Excuse me?"

"Oh, it's nothing, I'm just making breakfast." Vlad waved her off, "I'm sure he'll love it; it's my cooking, after all!" Humming, he turned back to the stove and added some sausage to the pan.

"Vlad," Maddie said, "Why are you making my son breakfast?"

Vlad frowned at her, "I'm making you some too, my dear. I just wasn't aware you were awake yet. When I passed by Daniel's room I could hear him talking."

Maddie frowned; Danny, up before Jazz? Had her baby boy gotten any sleep at all? "Who was he talking to?"

"I don't believe that's either of our concern," Vlad said, adding some mushrooms into the omelette. "Since you're down here already, I'll just make yours first. I suppose you'd like the usual, then?"

"You still remember that?" Maddie said, looking over his shoulder.

"Mushrooms, sausage, extra cheese?" He grinned at her, and for a second they were back in college.

Maddie smiled back at him. "Define extra cheese."

Vlad raised an eyebrow and held up a large bowl of shredded cheese. "Will this be enough, or should I prepare more?"

There was series of quick thumps, and Maddie spun around as her husband wrapped his arms around her. He dipped her, pressing their lips together for several long moments. "Good morning," He said, and Vlad cleared his throat.

"Yes, well, this one's almost finished," He said, and Maddie gave her husband a small peck on the cheek. "Would you mind setting everything onto the table?"

"On it, V-man!" Jack said, throwing open a cupboard. "Well, they're not in here!"

Vlad sighed, gripping the spatula tighter. "Honestly, are you blind?" He pointed to a small stack of plates and utensils further along the counter. "You used them yesterday morning; this is ridiculous."

Maddie chewed on her bottom lip, uncomfortable with his tone. Jack had no such misgivings. He rushed to grab them and hurried into the dining area. Maddie watched her once-friend cook a second longer before heading after her husband, the moment between them gone.

Maddie knew thing couldn't go back to the way they'd been in college, and she was perfectly fine with that. Vlad had suffered with various issues in college that made him almost unbearable to be around on a bad day. Her own sister had suffered the misfortune of meeting Vlad on one of those days and had gotten into a fist fight with him. For a second, Maddie wondered if Vlad still had scars from Alicia's rings.

There was the sound of something almost falling over, a yelp in her youngest child's voice, and a second later an 'innocent' looking Danny entered the room.

"Hi Mom, Hi Dad," He said, "Um... is there a breakfast plan or should I go get stuff from the RV?"

"Vlad's making omelettes," Maddie said, deciding not to comment on his disappearance from the night before. "Why don't you go tell him what you'd like in yours?"

Looking surprisingly thrilled at the idea of interacting with the man he hadn't seemed to be comfortable around the day before, Danny rushed towards the kitchen. He hadn't yet reached it when Vlad stepped into the doorway. Danny stopped, staring up at him.

"Good morning, Daniel," Vlad said.

"Last night," Danny said quickly, "That actually happened, didn't it? You... and I..."

Several more red flags were quickly raised in Maddie's mind. "Last night?" She crossed her arms, staring down at her son. "Danny, what happened?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about now, my dear." Vlad said, resting a hand on Danny's shoulder, "Your son is fine, and the situation has been dealt with."

"Danny?" Maddie said again as her husband came to join her, "What happened?"

Danny hesitated, looking back up at Vlad. "Well... you see..."

"Don't you lie to me, young man," Maddie said, watching as her son rested a hand on the back of his neck. "What happened?"

Danny licked his lips, looked up at Vlad again, and rested the other hand on the back of his neck. "Okay so, uh, like he said I'm fine. No need to freak out! But um, I... might have kicked a ghost in the face last night."

"It was an ectopus," Vlad added on smoothly, "And as soon as I realized what was going on I dealt with and destroyed the creature. Though Daniel suffered some bruising, I assure you that he is perfectly fine."

Maddie's arms fell, "You fought a ghost?" She tried to picture the man in front of her, or even the version she'd known from college fighting off a ghost. It seemed impossible.

Jack laughed, "That's my boy!" He rushed forwards, pulling Danny away from Vlad and into a hug.

"Dad, no," Danny wheezed, flailing with a smile on his face, "Air!"

"But I do have to wonder how the creature got here," Vlad said, sounding thoughtful. "I don't have any ectoplasm in my home which could mutate enough to create one of those. And I assume you keep all your ectoplasm in superior condition, Maddie, so I find it difficult to believe that you created one. Unless that RV of yours runs on ectoplasm, of course."

Jack dropped Danny and pointed at Vlad, "Excellent observation, V-man! I'll check the weapons in the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle, find the problem, and report back to you! Come, Maddie!" He rushed out of the room, dropping his confused son.

Maddie rolled her eyes and turned towards her son. "If you see any more ectopuses or ghosts then you just scream for me, alright Danny?"

Danny gave her a thumbs up, one hand returning to the back of his neck. "Got it."

"And Vlad?" He smiled as she addressed him, "The same goes for you. I appreciate you saving my son, but leave fighting ghosts to the professionals." Maddie turned and rushed after her husband.

It wasn't until she was outside that she realized she hadn't forced Danny to take his pills. When she had grabbed them and returned to the kitchen, Danny was gone.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny found it ridiculously amusing how grumpy Vlad looked after his mom's brush off. Vlad soon recomposed himself and turned towards Danny, smiling once again.

"Last night did happen, Little Badger. It truly did."

"Little Badger?" Danny frowned, "What does that mean?"

Vlad frowned, "It's a nickname. I'm sorry, do you not like it?"

"No, it's great!" Danny spoke quickly, holding out his hands. "It's just, uh, Jazz is normally the one who gets nicknames." He smiled, "Little Badger. Does this mean I have to come up with one for you now?"

"If you'd like, then please do." Vlad motioned to a chair, "Sit down, dear boy. I have some questions that I'd like you to answer." He did, and Vlad started pacing in front of him. "That ghost whom you are connected to, his name is Prince, is it not?"

Danny nodded, feeling slightly as if he was being interrogated. "Yes? And your's is Positgen, right?"

"Correct," He stopped, giving Danny an odd look. "Do you find that name odd?"

"Who's, Positgen?" Danny shrugged, "Uh, a little, I guess. I've met a ghost named Skulker before, and Prince's last name is Phantom."

Vlad raised an eyebrow, "I see." He went back to pacing, "And you know about my accident, do you not?"

"Vaguely; my dad mentioned it on our way here and then some weird lady stole my fries." He shrugged, "I didn't get much other than your portal exploded, ectoplasm went everywhere, and you got Ecto Acne. And I still have no idea what that is."

Vlad stopped again, grabbed a chair, and sat down across from Danny. "You don't know what Ecto Acne is?"

"No?" Danny frowned, "Should I?"

"It's a horrible, horrible disease which causes painful growths, blackouts, violent actions, and rash decisions. There is no official cure, since the medical community continues to reject all ideas of purifying ectoplasm in medical practices no matter what steps Positgen and I have made in that field." His frown deepened, "And you were spared from it?"

"Yes...?" Danny said, leaning back and patting his face. "I think?"

Vlad took a breath, calmed himself, and returned his expression to neutral. "I do apologize, Daniel. I wouldn't wish Ecto Acne on anyone, and I am beyond thankful that you did not suffer as I have. How long ago was your accident?"

Danny frowned, "Uh... almost two months ago."

Vlad nodded, looking very interested. "And how long after that was Prince able to make a solid form?"

Danny frowned, "Uh... two minutes?"

Vlad stared at him, "I'm sorry, could you repeat that?"

"Well, it might've been two weeks," Danny frowned, "And I mean couldn't really see him for the first week but he was totally there. How long did it take for you guys?"

Vlad took a deep breath. "Four years."

"Oh." Danny stared at the man in front of him, not sure of what else to say. He tried to imagine what would have happened if those first two weeks had lasted four years, and imagined how terrified he'd be of Prince.

Vlad stood, abruptly changing the subject. "Ah, do you smell that? I believe breakfast has finished cooking."

Danny was about to ask how he knew that when a second Vlad stepped from the kitchen. Danny looked between the two of them, eyes wide, trying to process what was happening. The second Vlad set a plate down in front of Danny, which smelled delicious, but Danny couldn't take his eyes off of the two of them. His lips moved, but no sounds formed, and Danny wondered if he was dreaming.

The first Vlad nodded to the second one, who disappeared in a puff of pink smoke. Danny's jaw dropped and he looked up at Vlad, hoping for some sort of explanation.

"That was a shade, Little Badger." Vlad said pleasantly, "A direct duplicate of myself created with Positgen's ectoplasm to do a certain task. In this case, it was to finish cooking so I could have this conversation with you."

Danny closed his mouth, opened it, and closed it again. "That's a thing? A thing people like us can do? You mean I could make a clone of myself to do the things I didn't want to? Holy frick," He jumped to his feet, "That's so cool! You've got to teach me how to do that!"

Vlad blinked, "I- excuse me?"

"Teach me!" Danny continued, motioning wildly with his hands. "I mean you can do that and you've got like what, twenty years of experience? You've got to be able to do a lot of cool stuff! Please? I've never met anyone like me and- uh, I mean..." He moved his hands to the back of his neck, "Please show me how you did that."

"Daniel," Vlad reached out, resting a hand on Danny's shoulder. "It would be my honour to teach you."

"Really?"

"Of course," He pulled his hand back, "Eat your breakfast and meet me in the back garden. And bring Prince with you, of course."

Danny nodded, grabbed a fork, and started shoveling the overly-cheesy dish in his mouth. He finished it in record time and rushed back up to his room, pushing Jazz out of the way as he did so.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Prince tore off the piece of tape with his teeth, wrinkling his nose as it got stuck to his lip. He pulled it off, his face twisting further as it got stuck on his thumb. It took several long moments before he could get it off of his finger and onto his shirt, and even then it felt wrong. The tape holding his stained shirt together was uncomfortable at best, but Prince wasn't sure what else he could do. He didn't want to steal Danny's clothes; he'd already stolen these ones from someone in the Ghost Zone, and that was more than enough thievery for one lifetime.

The door was thrown open, and Prince quickly turned invisible. Danny stood there, breathing heavily. "Prince, come on, we're doing a thing!"

"I'm not," Prince said, switching back to visibility and returning to taping his sleeve. "I'm staying in here, where it's safe." And there's no Positgen to wreck my clothes and eye.

Danny groaned, "Come on, it's just one thing! Vlad and Positgen are like us! Vlad made a clone of himself and he can teach me to do it too! Probably. I think."

Prince narrowed his eyes. "Did Positgen suggest this?"

Danny frowned, "No. I did, and Vlad said he would. Prince, seriously, think of how cool this will be! Think of all the things they could teach us!"

"I said no." He crossed his arms, looking away in an attempt to ignore Danny's obvious disappointment. It didn't work.

"I know you don't like Vlad," Danny said, "And that Positgen hurt you, but I won't let anything happen to you. If they try to hurt you in any way we'll be out of there in seconds." Prince looked back up as Danny moved towards him, a hopeful smile on his face. "Just say the word. But until then, please?"

Prince licked his lips and looked away. "Sorry." He didn't want to go back to being near Positgen. Vlad he could handle, but Positgen knew too much. He'd already used Prince to set up that first meeting between the humans, and Prince was terrified of what would happen when he decided that wasn't enough.

Danny's hopefulness fell away to annoyance, which was quickly smothered. "So, I guess we're stuck like this then?"

Prince shrugged.

Danny moved the tape over, sitting on the end table beside the chair Prince was in. "Alright then. Guess we're staying around until the birds come."

Prince looked over and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Danny shrugged, "I don't know about you, but I'm not sure how much I want to count on Lewis' sister and her tree branch. Plus, there's the whole thing with the whistle causing you to freeze up..." Prince held his arms closer to himself, "Why does it do that? Do you know?"

Prince hesitated before nodding slowly. "Yeah. I do."

"Sweet." Danny smiled, "So tell me then! Whatever it is, it's weird and I really don't like doing that to you."

Prince hesitated. Sam had never ordered him not to tell Danny about what she had done to the whistle, yet Prince had avoided it anyway. He might hate Sam, but she did care about Danny and he definitely needed more people like that. But then again, Danny had asked, and he probably wouldn't want to hang out with a bad person, so if Prince did tell him then he'd only be helping Danny. That was what Sam had claimed she wanted to do. It wasn't Prince's fault if the thing which helped Danny the most was getting Sam as far away from him as possible.

Danny's smile was gone. "Prince? Are you okay?"

Prince nodded, throwing up his mental shields and trying to appear nervous. "I think she'll be really mad if I tell you. It might be better if I don't..."

Danny reached out, grabbing onto him, and Prince attempted to smother his guilt. "Who will be mad?"

"Sam," Prince whispered, and Danny pulled back. "I wasn't going to tell you because I know she's your friend but um, a week ago, she put a whole bunch of orders around it and... I'm sorry." He looked away, playing with a piece of tape that had come loose. That much had been mostly true, at least. Saying that he'd also been too stubborn to ask for Danny's help to fix it probably wouldn't have gotten him any sympathy.

Prince looked up when Danny didn't reply, and saw that the human had removed the whistle from around his neck. Danny, who was standing now, dangled it in front of his face and looked at it with narrowed eyes. "Prince, could you do me a huge favour?"

Prince nodded, watching the human curiously.

Danny pointed across the room, to where a window rested beside a dresser. "Could you go open that for me?"

"Um, okay." Prince floated for a coupled seconds before walking the rest of the way, pulling aside the curtains and opening up the window. "Why did you want me to-" He cut himself off with a yelp, jumping back as Danny whipped the whistle out the open window.

"Jazz was right," He muttered, "I can't believe she was right, ugh!" He ran his hands down his face, turning to Prince. "If anything like this happens again then tell me, please. I don't want people to try and hurt you just because they can."

Prince licked his lips, a lump rising up in his throat as he tried to blink away the water building up in his eyes. "I- thank you, Danny." I'm sorry for lying.

"No problem, what are friends for?" Danny's smile looked forced, "So, now that we've handled that and I don't have any protection from ghosts, what do you say to Vlad training us? I also kind of need a distraction so... you interested?"

Prince looked to the window, then back at Danny. "Okay."

"Yes!" Danny pumped his fist in the air, "Let's go!" He rushed back into the hallway. Prince looked back at the window before turning invisible and flying after him.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny slid into a clearing surrounded by plants, smiling up at the billionaire across from him. "Sorry I'm late! Stuff happened but I'm here now!"

Vlad smiled, "It's quite alright; it gave me time to prepare."

Danny looked around, "Prepare what? The bushes?"

"Creepy smiles?" Prince muttered, and Danny sent him a dirty look.

"You two sound surprisingly alike," Vlad observed, "Have you noticed that?" When neither of them replied, he continued. "Nonetheless, before we go any farther Daniel, I would like to know the extent of what you can do while separate."

"Oh!" Danny said, "Well there's um, invisibility, intangibility, and I overshadowed my friend Tucker once- wait, did you want me to show you? I have pretty good control of them. I probably can."

Vlad held up a hand, "That will come later. For the moment a basic overview will be quite fine. It's amazing how comfortable you are with your powers."

Danny nodded, "Thanks! Okay so then, uh... that's it! Those are all I have. Oh wait, no they're not." He smacked himself in the face, "I can sense ghosts!" As if summoned, his ghost sense came out in a quick puff. A second later, Positgen appeared beside Vlad.

"The kid's good," He said, and Danny saw Prince step back. "And you're still scared of me, aren't you?"

"No!" Prince snapped, moving back and raising his fists.

Vlad gave Positgen a pointed look, and the ghost frowned. "What? I thought he was trespassing, I caught him, and I ran some tests to figure out how he'd gotten in! I was in the right!"

"You tortured a teenager," Vlad said calmly, "And now you're teasing him because he's uncomfortable in your presence. I fail to find the amusement in this situation."

Positgen opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced with a look from Vlad. With a sigh he teleported away, returning a moment later and tossing a memory stick towards Prince. Prince stepped back and let it fall into the grass, making a face at it. "Here. That's all the information I got from you, and I've already edited the code for our barriers not to affect your ecto-signature- not that they did that in the first place, but apparently I must be absolutely certain that you aren't at any risk here."

Danny crossed his arms and glared at the other ghost. "Hey," He said, "Leave him alone." He crossed the area between them easily, jabbing a finger into Positgen's chest. "Prince is my friend," jab, "Got that?" Jab, "And if you ever do anything to him again or even think about treating him this badly," He grabbed the ghost's shirt, pulling him down to eye level. "I will destroy you."

Vlad had started slowly clapping. Danny let go and took a couple steps back, rubbing the back of his neck. Prince came to stand beside him, a small smile on his face and memory stick in hand. "Don't encourage him!" Positgen whined, "Vlad, come on, that actually scared me!"

Danny's face lit up, "I'm scary? Cool! I scared a ghost!" He pumped a fist in the air, spinning around on one foot. "I am the ultimate!"

"Huh," Positgen said, "And now the fear is gone."

"If you're all finished," Vlad said, attracting the attention of the three of them. "Daniel, I find how quick you are to stand up to those threatening you simply marvelous! If you can hold onto that skill it will serve you extremely well in the years to come."

Danny blushed, "Thanks."

Vlad looked over at Positgen, and after a moment of staring at each other the two moved deeper into the garden. "Now, to test what you can do by yourself. Daniel, if you'll just follow me for a moment."

Danny nodded, grabbed Prince by the sleeve, and pulled the ghost after him. The two came to an abrupt stop as the bushes parted to reveal a huge outdoor football stadium. Danny looked over the green and gold seats with wide eyes as Vlad and Positgen approached the center, sharing another silent conversation before Positgen teleported away.

"Are you coming?" Vlad asked. Numbly, Danny nodded and tried to pull Prince forwards. The ghost wouldn't budge.

Frowning, Danny looked back at Prince. His eyes were huge and his skin had taken on a slight gray tone. His free hand was resting on the center of his chest, and Danny felt the emptiness feeling churn in his gut again. That doesn't make any sense; he's right here. "Hey," Danny said as gently as he could manage, "What's wrong?" Prince's lip trembled and he seemed to try and make himself smaller. "Prince?" He reached out, trying to grab the ghost's other hand.

"I'm not going in there," Prince whispered. Danny looked over his shoulder to see that Vlad was moving towards them.

Danny frowned, "Why not?"

"That's an arena," Prince whispered, "People always got hurt when I had to go in the arena."

"What's that supposed to- oh," Danny nodded, grabbing Prince's hands tighter as a wave of the ghost's terror nearly caused him to stumble. "I won't let anyone hurt you, Prince."

Prince pulled his hands away, moving back from Danny as he rubbed his knuckles together. "It's not me I'm worried about."

"Is there a problem?" Vlad asked, sounding genuinely concerned.

Danny spun around, looked up at the man, and nodded. "Yeah. Uh... your... stadium thing's colour scheme is causing Prince actual physical pain so we should probably go somewhere else."

Vlad raised a somewhat offended eyebrow. Positgen appeared beside him, the same expression on his face. His face softened after a second, and Vlad's followed suit.

"Let's go back inside," He suggested. Danny nodded, grabbed Prince by his sleeve, and led the way out of the garden.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny and Prince had retreated back to their room. Vlad had hidden himself away in his lab, where he paced back and forth across the floor.

"So," Positgen said, leaning against a counter, "That could have gone better."

"Everything was ready," Vlad said, "I had fifteen exercises planned and twenty more variants based on his potential skill level- but they wouldn't even enter the area!" He spun on a heel, pacing the other direction. "How, exactly, does someone end up with a fear of stadiums?"

"They have bad things happen in them?" Positgen frowned under Vlad's glare, "Well, I don't know what you want me to say!" That was a lie, of course, but the statement remained sound. "He's obviously been through a lot, and the human cares about him feeling safe enough to stop doing what he enjoys if Prince is threatened."

"Jack probably taught Daniel that complete sacrifice was noble," Vlad spat, "That throwing everything you've worked for away because someone close to you isn't entirely happy is the best course of action. A ridiculous notion like that will get him killed!"

"Maybe it only extends to Prince," Positgen said, moving towards the human. "Think about how much we've given up for each other."

"They haven't even been together for two months!" He made a wild motion with his hand, nearly smacking Positgen across the face. "No, I'm certain of this. Daniel has been taught to give up his desires to make others happy and I will not stand for it."

"So it's a gut feeling, then? You have no proof?" He ignored the glare that comment earned him, "Vlad, you know I'm going to support you in whatever you decide to do, and I know you want to spend more time with the kid. But I honestly think you need to take a step back and realize that just because you had to deal with some bad people does not mean he had to as well."

"Jack Fenton nearly killed not only me, but also his own child." He turned completely towards Positgen, "He left me alone in that hospital, and I have no doubt that he'd have done the same to Daniel! How did a fourteen-year-old boy even find himself in a situation with a ghost portal in the first place if not for a neglectful father?"

Positgen could think of several reasons, and was tempted to provide all of them. But he knew that look in Vlad's eyes, and so he calmly raised his hands. "Take a deep breath. I understand that this is personal to you, but you're getting worked up."

"I am fine!" Vlad lashed out, and Positgen could feel his energy drain away as Vlad's eyes blazed red. "But I refuse to let anyone else suffer at that man's hands! Daniel has his entire life ahead of him and I will not let that man rob him of it!"

Positgen stepped back, moving away from Vlad. "I know you won't. Take a moment, you aren't thinking straight."

Vlad shook his head, and the drain on Positgen's energy stopped. He blinked, eyes returning to blue, and sat down in a chair. "I stand by that. I will not let him be hurt, especially by Jack Fenton."

Positgen nodded, returning to the counter. "I know you won't." He could still hear echoes of Vlad's angry thoughts, and pictured him dancing with Maddie in reply. Prince and his human would be off to the side, both well dressed and uninjured. Vlad relaxed, and Positgen smiled. "You've got too much on the line to ever let that boy be hurt."

"But he's in danger every second Jack Fenton is near him," Vlad grabbed a strand of hair from his ponytail and pulled, "How can I keep him safe from that man when Daniel lives with his biggest threat?"

Positgen considered his options. He knew exactly what Vlad would want him to say, but on several levels it went against what he believed. And then he sighed, attracting Vlad's attention. "You do for him what your grandparents did for you." Vlad quickly looked up at that, "You find a way to get him out."

"Are you suggesting I kidnap the boy?"

Of course that would be his first thought. "No. Just because that worked for you doesn't mean it'll work for him. I'm suggesting you talk to him, see if you can get him to stay. After all," He grinned, "If the end result of Project Vengeance will be you stealing Jack's perfect family, why not add in a kid as well? Daniel Masters. Sounds lovely, doesn't it?"

Vlad smiled a genuine smile. "Yes, yes it does."

Positgen pushed away the voice in the back of his mind which screamed that he shouldn't have told Vlad just what he wanted to hear. In the end, it didn't matter; his morals would never be as important as his human was.

.-.-.-.-.-.

Danny watched as the notification for his group chat with Sam and Tucker popped up on the screen, waiting for it to stop ringing but making no move to answer it.

Prince, who was sitting on the end of his bed and rereading the book Jazz had given him, looked up at Danny with a frown. "You're ignoring your friends?"

Danny shrugged and switched his Skype to do not disturb. "Guess so."

Prince's frown deepened, and he scratched the sides of his face. "They were just trying to help."

"Do you always make excuses for the people who hurt you, or are you just doing it because they're my friends?"

Prince shrugged, and Danny set his laptop off to the side. He moved towards the ghost, waiting for him to speak.

"I don't want something to happen because they're mad at you." Prince said, fiddling with a page in his book. "They're the only other ones who know about us. That gives them a lot of power if they decide to get rid of me."

"They won't do anything, I promise." Danny said quickly, "I just don't want to deal with them right now. I will talk to them about what they did, but it's something that needs to be done in person, and I don't think I'll be able to resist telling them off until then. Okay?" Prince nodded, and Danny shifted back to his original position. "Good."

For a few moments there was silence before Prince spoke up again. "Danny?"

"Hm?" He looked up, "What is it?"

Prince held up the memory stick Positgen had given him. "Do you know what this is?"

Thankful for the distraction, Danny motioned for Prince to come sit beside him. "Yep. Give it here." Prince handed it over, looking over Danny shoulder as he plugged it into his computer. He clicked on the application it brought up, watching as it brought up a picture of Prince's face injured face, ectoplasm dripping from his split lip, and look several bolded words on a silver background.

Name - Undetermined

Obsession - Undetermined

Gender - Presumed Male

Physical Age - 14-15

Chronological Age - Undetermined

Status - Undetermined

Ectoplasmic Typing - Superior Pure

Core Element - Ice

Power Level - 5.24

Tests Run

Footage

"Well," Danny said, "I understand absolutely none of this. Prince?"

"Why am I a Superior Pure?" He wrinkled his nose, "I'm supposed to be like, a Lower Pure. Danny, that's wrong."

"I don't even know what that means," Danny said, quickly changing the name on the file to Prince Phantom. "Are you going to tell me?"

"It's what type of ectoplasm your core works best with," Prince said, tapping the center of his chest. "Superior Pure is the highest, and Rough is the lowest. If you're somewhere where the type is too far off to work with your core malfunctions and bad things happen."

"That's specific," Danny replied, going to the status area and changing the Undetermined to Massive Nerd.

"Well I don't know what happens," Prince said, "I'm not stupid. I don't go into places with Rough ectoplasm. That stuff is nasty. Once, my Mom and Dad were messing with some of it and they didn't seal it properly." A bit of fear pricked at Danny's mind, "That, um... that wasn't a good day."

"But you don't know what happens?" Danny pressed, and Prince shrugged.

"I was five. I didn't know what was going on."

"Fair enough," He looked at the Chronological Age section. "How old are you?"

Prince frowned, "Are you filling it out for him?"

"Nope." Danny popped the 'p'. "He's not getting this back. I'm mostly doing this because it's a distraction. So, age?"

Prince shrugged. "I don't know. That never seemed important."

"So you're not fifteen?"

Again, Prince shrugged. "I don't know, maybe. I know I'm two years older than my sister, does that help?"

Danny looked back at his laptop, nodding and pretending it did. This might be the most I've ever heard Prince say about his family. He hesitated for a second before turning back to Prince. "What was your family like?"

Prince looked at his lap, playing with his taped-up sleeve for several seconds. "They were... they really great. My dad was this amazing man who would do anything for us. He was really strong, but my mom was too. She was better with ectoplasm, but he had a sword and other cool tricks. And my little sister..." His voice cracked, and Prince stopped. He wrapped his arms around himself and looked away, his form shaking. "They didn't deserve any of this."

Awkwardly, Danny reached an arm around Prince's shoulders. With his other hand, he brought up a browser and searched up some cute animal videos. "Hey Prince, want to see something cool?"

An hour later, Danny replaced the file photo's of Prince with one he'd taken on his cellphone. Prince had placed his hand on Danny's laptop screen, and looked like he was trying to pet the rabbit on it. It looked much better than the injured version who'd been there before. Prince was still on his left side, shoving his face into the book. It was peaceful.

There was a knock at his door, and in a panic Danny shoved Prince off his bed. "It's open!" He called, throwing a blanket over Prince. The ghost didn't even look up from his book.

Vlad entered, a package in hand and closing the door behind him. "Hello, Daniel," He said kindly, and looked down at the mound of blankets. "Hello, Prince."

"Hi," Prince mumbled, shifting the blankets off his head but making no move to stop reading.

Vlad crossed the room and placed the package on the table beside the ghost. "I noticed that your shirt, among other things, had been destroyed prior to our initial meeting. So I took the initiative and bought these for you last night." Prince looked up at that, and Danny raised an eyebrow. "I didn't have your exact measurements, so they may be a bit loose, but I am certain that they will be significantly better than holding a sleeve together with scotch tape."

Prince looked up at the package and pushed it away. "I don't want them."

"Prince!" Danny shifted and kicked him lightly between the shoulder blades. "Of course you want them!"

"No I don't," Prince said, standing up and using his finger to hold the place in his book. "Don't tell me that I do. I like the clothes that I picked. I don't want anyone else's."

Vlad nodded, "I can understand that. However, they look exactly the same, and it seems like you're trying to find problems where there are none."

Prince shook his head, "You aren't listening!" He looked back at Danny, seeming genuinely upset, and shook his head again. "I don't want to fight with anyone right now." He turned invisible and sunk through the floor.

"I'm really sorry about him," Danny said quickly, moving to his feet. "He's not normally that bad! Well, he kind of is, but-"

"Daniel," Vlad said, holding up a hand. "I don't mind. I did want to talk with you, however." He stepped back, motioning to the door. "Shall we take a walk?"

Danny eagerly nodded, following Vlad quickly out of the room. "I'm sorry about earlier," He said, "I didn't know Prince would freak out that badly. I was really looking forward to you teaching me, and-"

"Daniel," Vlad cut him off, "It's perfectly alright. Though that was disappointing, it is not his fault and you have no need to apologize on his behalf."

Danny nodded. "Right. Okay." Vlad slowed his pace down slightly, making it easier to match. "You can call me Danny, you know. I normally only get called Daniel when I'm in trouble."

"Hm, fair point," Vlad nodded, looking down at him. "Are you often in trouble?"

"Not really," Danny shrugged, "I'm too scared of my parents for that." At Vlad's alarmed look, he continued, "I mean I'm scared of them yelling or arguing about me! And it's not so much that I'm scared as it makes me really uncomfortable. And my parents don't argue in front of me and Jazz anymore."

"I see," Vlad said, still sounding concerned. "Anymore?"

"Well, they used to argue a lot about stupid stuff when I was a kid," Danny said, awkwardly attempting to clear his parents' names in the eyes of their old friend. "But something happened when I was seven so now they don't. Jazz and I just don't break the rules because, uh, we suck." He shrugged again, "Yeah. We're boring."

Vlad nodded. "Alright." He paused for a second before changing the subject, "Do you have any plans for your future, Little Badger?"

Danny grinned as he heard his nickname. "I'm going to be an astronaut."

"That's quite a goal."

"Believe me, I know." Danny groaned, "There's so much math and it makes me want to shove a fork in my eye."

"Please don't." Vlad placed a hand on Danny's shoulder, stopping them both. "Do you struggle with math?"

"It is my mortal enemy and I'm going to fight it." Danny mumbled, and immediately regretted it. Darn it, Fenton, you idiot, you can't say that to an adult! I also probably shouldn't have said the fork thing. Ugh, great, now I've ruined everything.

But much to his surprise, Vlad laughed. "Good luck with that," He said, and adopted a more serious tone. "You know, dear boy, mathematics was my major in university. Perhaps I could help you in some way?"

"Really? You'd do that?" Danny's excitement pulled back, and he frowned. "Why are you being so nice to me? You just met me yesterday, and I'm like, fourteen."

"I'm going to ignore what you were implying with that last bit," Vlad's hand squeezed his shoulder before he pulled it back. "I will admit that initially, my interest in you stemmed purely from the fact we were both connected to a ghost. But I see potential in you, dear boy, and even if it's just in the purely human parts our lives I want nothing more than to learn more about you. You're highly intelligent, ambitious, more than willing to stand up for what you believe in, and care deeply about those around you. You have the potential to be someone simply amazing, and I would like nothing more than to see you reach that goal."

Danny rubbed the back of his neck, trying to hide how his face turned red. "Thanks. I, uh, just hope I don't disappoint you."

"Little Badger," Vlad said, "You could never disappoint me."

Still blushing furiously, Danny took a deep breath in and nodded. This is almost too good to be true. "So, um, what about you? I mean, I don't know anything about you."

Vlad smiled, "Yes, I suppose you don't. There isn't much to tell, however; I was raised by my grandparents, have a sister named Carmilla who is older by three years, and went to university with your parents."

"Oh, neat," Danny said, "That's cool. But I meant like, you personally. Did you always want to be billionaire?"

"I never even considered it a possibility," Vlad replied, "In fact, when I was younger, I wanted to be a teacher."

Danny grinned, "Good thing I came along, then. Now you've got a student!"

Vlad grinned back, messing Danny's hair. "Yes Little Badger, it certainly is."

.-.-.-.-.-.

"Is this seat taken?"

Prince wrinkled his nose and looked up, away from his book and towards Positgen. "It is now."

Rolling his eyes, the other ghost came and sat beside Prince, who'd returned to his book. He moved over, closer to the edge of the roof, and thankfully Positgen didn't follow.

"I am sorry," Positgen said.

Prince scoffed, "No you're not."

"If I had known it was you-"

"You still would've hurt me. Because you suck." He looked up from his book, "So go away."

Positgen didn't. He sighed and looked up at the sky. "I'd like to apologize for ordering you before. I do realize that my actions were wrong on several levels and I should not have taken them. So, I'm sorry."

Prince slammed his book closed, "Apology not accepted. Go away."

"As tempting as you make it seem, no." There was a minute of awkward silence, filled only with Prince's glare. "You're impossibly stubborn, you do realize that right?"

"And you're a jerk," Prince said, "So how about you make this easy for us both and just go away?"

Positgen shook his head. "I can't do that. Regardless of what you believe, I do have morals."

"Good for you," Prince said as insincerely as he could manage.

Positgen didn't comment on his insult. "You see, my first goal will always be keeping Vlad safe and happy. I will do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal. And the fact that you and Danny exist lights him up in a way I didn't know was possible. I've never seen Vlad so happy."

Prince raised an eyebrow, "Okay? Why should I care?"

"Because your human feels the same way." Positgen shifted position, turning his entire body towards Prince. "Prince Phan- no," He frowned, "Sorry. I was going to be formal but that might have developed into an order. I repeat; I am terribly sorry, but I wasn't sure how else to go about revealing your status to him. Anyway, I propose a truce. For our humans' sakes." He held out a hand.

Prince made no move to grab it. "I think you've forgotten that I don't trust you. At all. Go shake your own hand; I'm not touching it."

Positgen pulled his hand back. "That's a wise decision. I suppose your time with a certain group of one-eyed Superior Pure cores taught you that?"

"One-eyed what?" Prince pulled back, dropping the book, and staring at Positgen's neutral expression. "How- you did- I'm not going back there!"

"I know," Positgen said, holding up his hands in a placating gesture. "But they're getting antsy. They want you back, and they're more willing to take risks. They contacted me, asked me to help them. I'm outside of their rules, like you, so I-"

"Hold on, wait," Prince interrupted, trying not to appear as nervous as he felt. "You're what about their rules?"

"You don't know?" Positgen frowned, lowering his hands. "Of course. They wouldn't tell you. Well, it was decided during negotiations after the war that since their abilities are so limited on the human realm, humans are outside of their rules. And since we are connected to a human, we are outside of their rules. This only lasts as long as the human survives, of course, but that's obvious."

Prince swallowed. As long as the human survives. He could feel Danny a little ways away, enjoying himself, and his core thump painfully in his chest. As long as the human survives. "They wanted you to help them... by killing Danny."

"No!" Positgen shook his head, "I would never do something like that! I was supposed to find out information about where you were, or else. Though, now that you mention it that was probably what they were going for. Certainly explains why they were so willing to let me use their other assets." His expression twisted and he turned back to Prince, disgust still obvious on his face. "I can't believe I didn't realize that. I wouldn't have done it if they had, you have to believe me! I would never have actually killed someone! And I doubt they even know about him. They blamed the fact that you were hidden away on something done by the Master of Time."

Prince wrinkled his nose. "Oh." He didn't want to deal with Timey ghosts. He crossed his arms, mirroring the image of his mother his mind had helpfully supplied. He could clearly remember her annoyance whenever the Time Master worked his way into a conversation.

"That's it? All that and you just give me a disgusted 'oh'?" Positgen rolled his eyes, "Whatever. You get my point. They're after you, and he's going to be their central target."

Prince adjusted himself so that he was facing Positgen, picking the book back up as he did so. "Why are you telling me this?"

Positgen grinned, "Because your very existence makes the most important person in the world to me happier than I've ever seen him, and I don't want to do anything to ruin that."

"So you're doing this for his sake."

"Not just him," Positgen took on an awkward tone, "You see... I don't know how much you remember about the war, but after it was all over- and I mean all of it- there was a small group who thought that your father and everyone who fought with him- the Royal Army, I mean- had deserved better. I mean, if Warrior Boy, Dark, and the Ancients hadn't shown up none of this would have happened. So they started what we call the Royal Sympathizers. Because your side didn't deserve any of this." He grinned a huge grin, "So to meet someone who was actually there and on the side I support is simply amazing! I never thought I'd have a chance like this!"

Prince leaned so far back that he fell over. "That's weird," He said quickly, sitting back up and moving away from Positgen. "You're weird. All the Royal Sympathizers are weird. How can you say that you support our side when you weren't even there?"

"Weird we may be," Positgen admitted, "But we've picked up a lot of skills from the Royal Army." He stood, lit up his hand with violet ectoplasm, and Prince watched as a purple-tinted dome appeared around them. "Behold; my own adaptation of the King's Central Barrier. Guaranteed to block any Trace, of any strength."

"Block a Trace," Prince muttered, looking around. "Wait, does that mean- does that mean if I say their name, they won't know I did it?"

Positgen grinned, the violet glow leaving his hand. "Better; you could curse them out by individual name and they wouldn't even know you've mentioned them."

Prince could feel a weight leaving his shoulders and his core hum lightly in his chest. "So if I'm here, they can't find me?"

"As far as I know, they still believe you reside in Amity Park." The purple ectoplasm dissipated, "And they only managed to gather that much from rumors. They've never actually seen you there. I don't know how you've managed it, but I shouldn't have expected any less. Your parents would be so proud of you."

Prince's form shook and he blinked furiously, trying to keep the tears filling up in his eyes from rolling down his cheeks. "I have to go," He whispered, and phased down to the floor below them.

It took nearly an hour before Prince had composed himself enough to return to Danny's room. The human was gone, the blankets still lying in a pile on the floor, and the clothes Vlad had gotten for him still sitting in their box on the table. Prince set his book down, threw the blankets back on Danny's bed, pulled them into a much neater looking position, and ripped the box open.

These clothes were softer than the ones he had on, and there were three of each. They didn't have the waxy feeling of being treated with ectoplasm. This isn't like before. Nobody's forcing me to wear these. I can do what I want. This is what I want to do. Maybe Vlad had just been trying to do a nice thing. Maybe it wasn't a trap.

Maybe he was like Danny.

It took him ten minutes to change clothes, and five more to find Danny. He and Vlad were in the room that Prince was fairly sure was called Vlad's study. Danny was sitting in a chair in front of a computer while Vlad paced behind him. He was ranting, saying something about how far downhill the school system had gone and about how no one could be expected to work in such impossible conditions. Danny seemed to be hanging on to every word. Positgen sat in a chair a little ways away, eating some sort of snack which stained his fingers orange.

Danny was looking his way well before Prince turned visible, a goofy smile on his face. "Hey, Prince!" He waved a hand, "Vlad's pointing out all the flaws in my school system."

Vlad stopped pacing for a second, looking towards Danny. "And there are far too many. Had you been my son, I would never have let you step foot in a place so harmful to your mental and physical health!"

Danny shrugged, "It's better than the one in Elmerton. Like, Casper sucks, but that one's just as bad only it's apparently kind of moldy."

"How is it not condemned, then?" Vlad replied, "Who in their right mind would ever send their child there?!"

"I think they don't have the money to go anywhere else," Positgen suggested, offering a small smile in Prince's direction before giving Vlad a pointed look.

Vlad frowned and turned to face Prince, looking him over. "Are those the clothes I bought for you?"

Prince nodded, licking his lips. "Thank you. So, uh, you know how you were going to train Danny?" He could see and feel the hope which quickly covered his human. "Is there any chance that you, uh, could still do that?"

"Yes," Vlad said, calm but obviously curious, "That offer was never closed."

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to!" Danny said quickly, standing up and moving towards Prince. "I know that stadium freaked you out, and you're still kind of iffy on Vlad-"

"Well, yeah," Prince cut him off, "But he's kind of nice? He got me these." He held up his arm, showing off a sleeve before he quickly lowered it. "So maybe I was wrong. Sorry." Prince's mouth went dry. I don't want to do this. "So, maybe, you could train him? Like you guys wanted to do?"

Vlad was still looking at him curiously. "Daniel," He said. "It's your call, Little Badger."

Danny looked around the room, smiled, and nodded. "If you're all okay with it, let's do it! I want to learn how to make another me!"

Prince looked past Vlad, only half hearing what he was saying to Danny about duplication being difficult. Positgen was watching him, a small smile on his face. "Thank you," He mouthed.

Prince threw up his mental shield and nodded back. I'm not doing this for you. Danny grabbed him by the sleeve and started to pull him out of the room. I'm not doing this for any of you. Vlad stopped Danny, reminding him that the ghosts probably should stay invisible so the others didn't see them. I'm doing this for me.

It left a sick feeling in his stomach to know that the Observants would be proud.

*Wraps Prince up in a blanket* Small suffering child. Tiny baby.

Also, have I mentioned that I love Sam in this story? I feel like I should. I love her character so much.

Now, sometimes everything I touch turns to Badger Cereal. Or Puns. Or Angst. Oh look, we've gotten two out of three so far. Hm, I wonder what'll happen in the next chapter? :P

Telling me who your favourite characters are increases the chance of me writing scenes from their point of view. And of course, and form of love for this story is wonderful! Rude people, however, will be given Ecto Acne by their best friend.

I'm looking at you, random guest who told me to kill myself. Get a hobby, dude.