Jack and Maddie brought Vlad into the hospital. They quickly told the doctors what had happened, and the medical staff immediately brought Vlad into a private room. The two friends sat down next to the bed and waited for him to awaken. He finally acquiesced, his eyes fluttering open after about fifteen minutes.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I'm not quite sure," Jack replied, all traces of his usual boyish energy gone. "When I hit the switch, the portal started working, just like we had planned. But then, out of nowhere, this huge blast of energy hit you right in the kisser!"
"I remember that…it felt hot for a second, and then cold, as though there was this coldness that descended from my face into my very being. It hasn't left yet; I'm still freezing. What happened to my face?"
"Well, you seem to have been afflicted by some sort of ecto-acne; your face is covered in these ghostly zits."
"What? What are you talking about, Jack?"
"Here…" he said, handing his friend a mirror. Vlad looked at his face, and a single tear fell from his eye. He had had normal acne pretty badly when he was a teenager; everyone at his high school would make fun of him because of it. He had finally found a cream that worked just before his graduation, and his face was able to clear up before he went off to college. And now it was back, but this time the ghost energy made it a hundred times worse.
"Look what you've done, Jack," Maddie chastised him angrily. "You got overexcited and didn't stop to think about the consequences of your actions. Now your best friend is lying in a hospital bed, disfigured with pimples that nobody has any idea how to cure. Are you happy now? Are you proud of yourself?" Jack whimpered and looked down at the ground.
"Maddie, it's okay," Vlad suddenly said.
"Okay? Okay? Look at yourself, Vlad! How can you possibly think that everything is okay after what Jack did to you?"
"I realize that this accident did happen because Jack got a little too gung ho about the experiment. But I also realize that this invention, this Ghost Portal, had been his dream since childhood. Heck, it's been my dream to build it as well, ever since Jack turned me onto the idea. Who wouldn't be excited at the implications of such a device, and having a prototype sitting two feet away, fully powered, with the 'on' switch in their hands? I would certainly have been as excited as Jack was. This acne will go away in time, I'm certain of that. It's more important to me to preserve my friendship with my main man, Jack, than to wreck it worrying about a few zits. So, Jack, I forgive you for causing this accident."
"Really, you mean it?" Jack asked, all of his cheeriness returning to him.
"Yes, Jack." "Vladdie, thank you so much! I know that I don't deserve this. I'm going to make it up to you, don't you worry. I'll fix the portal and make a bridge to the Ghost Zone for sure this time. I'll do it for your sake, V-man, so that the invention that did this to you will finally be completed correctly!" He jumped up and ran out of the hospital, back to the lab.
"I can't believe him," Maddie said angrily. "And I can't believe you, either, Vlad. How can you forgive him so easily? How can you just ignore what he did you? I know I can't. I can't just pretend that this never happened, Vlad." She let out a long sigh. "I know that this is kind of an awkward time to tell you, but I've really been falling for the two of you. It would never work, though, getting in a relationship with my lab partners. But I couldn't help being attracted to your magnetic personalities." At this, Vlad's ears perked up, and he looked at her attentively.
"I didn't want to say anything to you because I couldn't choose between the two of you yet. I also didn't want you both to wreck your friendship over a girl. But after today…Jack may be enthusiastic, but he just can't control himself. He has no hold over his emotions, and can't help but act on the first impulse that hits him. That really wasn't a problem before, because his impulses usually led to us getting a huge laugh out of the whole ordeal. Today, though…he scarred you, Vlad, both physically and psychologically. I can see it in your eyes, even though you told him that you forgave him. I can tell that he opened old wounds in your mind, forcing you to relive aspects of your past that you would rather forget.
"Today, Jack showed me that his klutziness could be downright dangerous. He can be a menace to himself and those around him, even though he doesn't mean any of them harm intentionally. Before I thought he was just a big, goofy idiot, but now I'm genuinely concerned about my own safety around him." She sighed again, this time sitting down in a chair next to Vlad's head. She reached over and began stroking his bone-white hair. "Oh, Vladdie…you're so brave to take all of this in stride. You're so strong, to be able to face a setback like this, and then find it in you to forgive the person who caused it." She leaned forward, bringing his disfigured forehead in contact with her own. "I think that I'm falling in love with you, Vlad," she said, and kissed him. The shock and happiness that the love of his life felt the same way about him made Vlad giddy with glee. He felt as though his whole body was on fire, as though he was radiating waves and waves of pure energy. Suddenly, he felt the initial coldness from the accident increase in intensity, until it finally exploded around his midriff. He broke away from the kiss and looked down, Maddie following his gaze. The two of them stared in shock at the white halo that had appeared around his waist.
"This is new," Vlad commented, as the halo split in two, with one halo moving up along his chest and the other going down along his legs.