A/N: This took way longer than what I was expecting, but I won't make y'all wait any longer lol.


Chapter 30: Life's Lessons

Danny picked at his scrambled eggs with his golden fork. As delicious as the food smelled, he didn't have much of an appetite after what happened yesterday. Between the Frankenstein of a monster that he'd had to fight and talking to his parents, there wasn't much zest left for his stomach. He had even less of an appetite after he remembered Uryu's question.

He hadn't expected anything major from the Quincy when he decided to stay over after their ruined day of fun. To be fair, he hadn't expected him to stay in the first place. The two of them had rarely ever seen eye-to-eye (thankfully to less of an extent than himself and Ichigo), so Uryu staying and even asking a favor from him was a shock to the system.


Flashback.

"Danny, could I ask you a favor?"

Danny looked at him, carefully. The halfa was sitting up now after finally gaining enough strength to sit up on his own power. He still felt a little lightheaded, which was a bummer. "What is it?"

"I remember how you told us about how we need Vlad on our side. He's also a great scientist, right?"

Danny squinted up at him, not sure where he was going with his questioning. He supposed that Uryu could be a control freak sometimes. Maybe he just wanted to know more about Vlad if he was going to be on their side in the future. The far, far future. "Yeah sure. Why?"

"I want you to ask him if he can help me get my powers back."

Danny blinked. Once. Twice. "Wow, are you sure-?"

"Could you just ask him? It couldn't hurt to try. We might be able to work up some trust with him this way."

Danny looked away from his eyes, but he could still feel Uryu watching him. He wasn't really sure what to say. He knew Uryu was probably right, but did he have to go to Vlad so soon? What if he tried to implant something into Uryu? Or bug him? Or run tests on him to make some kinda super clone?

Uryu seemed to pick up on his apprehension as he continued. "Look, I can ask Urahara if this doesn't work out. I just think we can try this. Asking him first has to count for something, right?"

Danny sighed but nodded. As usual, Uryu's logic was sound. "Yeah, I'll see what I can do."


It all seemed so sudden. It wasn't that he wasn't happy about Uryu reaching out; God knew that Uryu was stubborn to a fault and kept to himself most of the time. It was just the circumstances that sucked. Why did it have to be Vlad?

'Because he was respecting your sanity by not asking your parents.'

Danny banished his thoughts from his mind as he returned to picking at his eggs. The scent of the scrumptious breakfast was almost enough to distract him from Vlad's stare. He didn't know how he could feel it on him, but Vlad had such a persistent gaze that it was impossible to ignore.

"What's the matter, Daniel?" he asked. "I think that you've skewered your breakfast enough."

Danny glanced up at Vlad before looking back down at his plate. He couldn't trust himself not to say something that wouldn't send back what little amount of progress that they'd garnered. Or rather that he'd garnered, no thanks to that insufferable, old-

"What was that look for? Is it not customary to ask what is troubling my son?"

To hell with it. "I'm not your son, fruitloop!"

Vlad was smiling as Danny glared at him. "Well, I suppose that can be amended at a later time."

Would it be so bad if Danny hit him with a couple of high-grade Hados and a couple of Ghostly Wails thrown in for good measure? It'd be quick. No one could blame him, could they? Thankfully, for the fate of the realms, Danny's rational side won out. "Fine, my friend wanted me to ask you if you could find a way to help him get his power back."

"His power?"

"Yeah, he lost them a week ago in Soul Society."

"Ah, the Quincy."

Danny felt his eyes narrow. "How do you know about Uryu?"

"Kariya wanted to use him for his plans. He talked about him quite a bunch."

"What? Why didn't you tell me?!"

Vlad waved a hand as he rolled his eyes. "It wasn't relevant. You and your friends had thrown a wrench into his plans, so he wouldn't have gone through with it anyway."

"What was he going to do?"

"The details aren't important. It didn't happen, and you needn't concern yourself with irrelevant things. What you should concern yourself with is eating your breakfast. I won't have you keeling over during your training today. I won't be going easy on you, so you're going to need every bit of that nourishment."

Danny rolled his eyes but complied, finally raising the food to his mouth. He couldn't help but wonder what he was going to be doing today and just what Uryu would have gone through with Kariya.


Uryu wasn't planning on seeing a triplet of flying ghost vultures in his room, who were there to pester him about being summoned by Vlad, yet there he was.

"Vlad has sent for you."

"Vlad?"

"Yeah, you're the Quincy right?" piped up another vulture.

"Yes." He looked at them cautiously. "Did he figure out a way to fix my powers?"

"Not yet, but he wants to speak with you. Now."

Uryu watched them for a moment. He could tell by their tone that there wasn't any other option besides obeying. The vultures didn't look particularly powerful, but he didn't have any ghost weaponry to fight back with nor did he have his powers. Either way, it would've been a hassle fighting back, and he wanted Vlad to fix him anyway. "OK. So how are we getting there?"

"Hang on, tight!"

Uryu inwardly cursed as the vulture's talons dug into his shirt as he was carried through the sky. He'd liked that shirt too. Thankfully, it had the sense to turn him invisible. Unfortunately, it hardly relieved the embarrassment of being carried off like prey.

They soon reached an extravagantly modest house. It wasn't incredibly big, but the money was clear to see. Quite literally, the roof looked as if it were made from bars of gold (from what he'd heard of the man's egotistical nature that might not have been far from the truth), and the rest of the house was not to be outdone.

The vulture dropped him, rather unceremoniously, in front of the front door as his brethren flew into the building.

He shot a glare at the vulture flapping above him as he rubbed his back. "You couldn't have just flew me in?!"

The vulture promptly ignored the Quincy's grievances as he jerked his neck towards the door. "Follow us."

Without much choice, Uryu did as asked. He wound up passing through numerous halls decorated with Packers memorabilia and portraits of the elder halfa until he arrived in front of a waiting Vlad and Danny.

Uryu addressed them both with a curt nod. "Danny, Vladimir-san."

Vlad returned the nod with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I hear that you wish to regain your powers."

"Can you help me reclaim them?"

"I believe I can. . . with enough information, of course." He turned to Danny with a slight wave. "Head to the training room."

"Training room?" Danny asked with a raised brow.

"The backyard," Vlad replied, dryly. He soon conjured up a clone and sent him off. "Follow the clone, it'll teach you while I speak with your friend."

Danny glanced back and forth between the both of them before Uryu nodded to his friend. "I'll be fine."

Danny shot Vlad one last wary look before heading after the clone.

"Kids these days," Vlad laughed. "So mistrusting."

Uryu's eyes narrowed at the older halfa. "If half the things he's told me about you are true, then I don't blame him."

Vlad spread his hands as he regarded Uryu carefully. Uryu was almost certain that he could spot one of Vlad's eyebrows twitch. "I suppose. What do you know about Jin's plans?"

"I know that he wanted to use me for something. I'm not sure what, but he needed my power. Am I correct to assume that Kariya knew that I had lost my powers?"

"He did."

"Would I also be correct in assuming that he had a way to get my powers returned?"

"Jin was a secretive man. He never said much, and I was too worried that he'd sense if I ever snooped around. However, I believe that he had an idea."

"Do you think you can check his hideout?"

Vlad chuckled. "God no. It'd be useless. The Soul Society has already sent some of their agents to raid whatever the Bounts had left in their mansion, and the other dimension hideout that Kariya had likely doesn't even have his main blueprints or plans. He created it in a haste, after all."

Uryu felt his hopes sink. The only option left would be going to his father. . . "So, it's hopeless."

"I never said that. I believe that you can have your powers jumpstarted." At Uryu's contemplative look, Vlad continued. "From what I heard from Kariya, you hypercharged your powers the day you lost them. You strained your reserves, shot your output production, emptied your metaphorical well, so to speak."

Uryu's gears were turning. "You think infusing me with Reiatsu might help?"

"Or with Reishi. Either way, it's worth a shot. I might be able to test my theory out if I can get some working technology running. For a genius mind like mine, you likely won't have to wait too long."

"So is that all? It would be sort of anticlimactic if I just went home after this."

Vlad waved a hand as he made for the door. "No, I'll still need all of the knowledge you have about drawing Reishi and the basics of your abilities. Wait here, I'll send for my clone."


"So do you understand?" asked Clone Vlad.

Danny shrugged as he tried to bite back a gag. It felt like he was back in Lancer's class all over again. And if there was one thing that he didn't miss about Amity, English with Lancer would definitely be the one. "I guess?"

"OK, explain to me how cores work as if I were a child."

"They're like a piece of your identity, like your heart. . . and it can be represented by an element like fire or water. It can be tied to an obsession which is basically like. . . your whole identity, like the rest of your body. However, sometimes your core and your identity are one in the same, so it isn't always elemental necessarily?" Danny stopped for a moment, but at Vlad's expectant look he continued. "That way, uh, your core, or heart, can be an idea like protection just like your obsession, your body."

"I suppose that will do."

Danny let his arms fall to his sides as he fixed Vlad an annoyed stare. "Why do I need to know this?"

"I believe I can answer that one."

Danny turned around to see Vlad walking in the room, notably, alone. "Did Uryu leave?"

His voice had a little more edge than he'd intended, but Vlad didn't seem to notice. "No, I've just come here to relieve my clone of its duties." Without breaking stride, Vlad turned to address his clone. "You can go question the Quincy boy about the nature of his abilities and reishi."

The clone nodded and was quickly off.

"So, you now know about cores, I see?"

"Yeah, I just explained the stupid thing to your clone. Why am I doing this again?"

"Simple. A deeper understanding of water and its properties allow us to make inferences on what it's capable of. We can infer it can freeze, we can infer that certain insects can walk across its surface given the correct abilities, etcetera, etcetera. Likewise, when you have a deeper understanding of cores, you can find a myriad of ways to use it."

Danny had to grudgingly admit that the man had a point. "I guess. So, what's next?"

"Practicing what you've learned and trying to feel for your core. Follow me."

The grass crunched underneath the halfas feet as they ventured further into the backyard. "Y'know, I've already done that before with Frostbite?"

Vlad chuckled. "What you did is learn to control it. You learned to shape it, you learned to mold it. But yes, sure, it fits under controlling it, but you haven't quite felt it yet. You were going in there looking for a solution to your problem, a way to control your core, but you weren't necessarily feeling it."

"What are you talking about? I was feeling my core perfectly fine! Heck, the ghost sense and my ice powers are proof enough, right?"

Vlad laughed as he shook his head. "Daniel, you have much to learn. Meditation, for instance, is an effective method for getting a proper feel of your core and its nature as well as the state of your existence."

"The state of my existence?"

"Yes. It's, ah, a wonder the type of things that you'll find in the quiet," Vlad said as he made to sit down on a patch of grass, but not before making a large, glowing ectoplasmic mat of sorts to sit on. "Things that you might not have sought if you just go in without necessarily looking for anything. If you just sit."

Vlad motioned for the teen to sit down next to him on the wide mat. Danny glanced at him suspiciously before finally obliging. He hadn't noticed it much before, but the birds were chirping in full swing. It was peaceful.

"How long am I supposed to do this for?" Danny asked.

No response.

Danny rolled his eyes as he settled into his cross-legged position. "Fine. Don't tell me."

"Look towards your core."

Danny shot Vlad a look. "I thought you told me not to go looking for anything."

Vlad didn't open his eyes to acknowledge him when he responded. "This is different. If you just sit there looking for nothing, you'll hear the birds, feel the wind on your arms. If you focus on your core, all other things get drowned out. The important thing gets enhanced. Focus on your core."

Danny nodded. He went deep towards his core. It felt strange. It was like focusing on your heartbeat or your breath. It felt more than a little uncomfortable and awkward. Heck, it felt a tad bit unnatural. Like he was forcing something to be what it was rather than natural allowing it to be. "It feels. . . I don't feel anything."

Vlad chuckled, though it seemed strained. "Well, it takes time. For now, I suppose we can move onto something you might consider a little more fun."

"Which is?"

"Combat."


Danny walked into his room feeling absolutely bushed. He didn't even bother changing into his pajamas, instead choosing to flop onto his bed.

He wasn't sure when he fell asleep either, but he was a bit surprised to find himself in his inner world. He usually only entered it by choice. The only other times that he'd recently entered his inner world were when. . .

"Alright, hollow," Danny spat. "Where are you?!"

He didn't see the giant hidey-hole that "Noritaka" called home, but it didn't put him any less on edge. For one, his inner world had been a bit gloomy recently, but the foreboding storm clouds overhead were a new touch. A light drizzle was falling down as flashes of lightning sparked sporadically. He knew from what his parents had taught him that an inner world reflected a shinigami's emotions and mindset, so this was unnerving to say the least.

"At ease, Daniel."

Danny's heart just about jumped out his chest as he spun around to face an old friend. "Kari?"

The zanpakuto spirit looked worse for wear. His bones had lost their luster, his formerly magnificent black cloak was in tatters, and he just looked thinner. That was saying something considering how thin he'd been beforehand. "Yes, Daniel. It's me."

Danny winced at the haggard sound of his friend's voice. "Where have you been?"

"The hollow parasite was causing mischief, so I needed to find a way to repress it."

He knew he shouldn't lose his temper, but he could feel the concern give way into ire. He was past the point of holding his tongue. "You couldn't drop by a hello or something? I could've used your help with the Bounts! Or Vlad! Heck, I could've tried to help you. I was able to hurt Noritaka!" Danny threw his arms up, running in pure frustration. "By the way that was the stupid hollow-spider's name. Noritaka. I'm not sure if you knew that. But if you didn't, consider my point made!"

The skeleton shook his head. The hood was so dark around his face that he couldn't even make out his facial features. "I'm sorry, Daniel, but you cannot rely on me for everything. You must stand on your own every once and a while just as I must here."

Danny bit his tongue hard. He hardly cared if he drew blood. He just needed something to keep his mind off of his mounting frustrations. "Right. So, the hollow is still around?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I'm not quite sure where it is now. It feels like its essence is scattered through every lingering shadow here. I suspect it may have much to do with the current state of your inner world."

"Well, is there anything I can do?"

"You can rest. We can't have you being tired in the upcoming war."

Danny nodded reluctantly. He wanted to scream again, to shout at Kari that he was being stubborn, but as he'd quickly been learning, shouting never achieved much. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little upset at being snubbed for a second time. "Are you back full time, at least?"

The shinigami spirit was quiet for a few moments before his raspy voice replied. "I cannot say that. I'll be showing up more frequently than before, but I cannot promise that I'll show up with the same frequency of the past."

Danny nodded, stiffly. "Alright, it was nice seeing you again."

Karitoriki nodded back as he turned on his heels. "I'll be returning to my search. Have a good rest, Daniel."

He slept.


A/N: Wow that took four months. I didn't count on having to work so much at my Dad's place over the summer, and it's been taking a lot out of my writing time. Hopefully I can find my rhythm again. See y'all later!

Uploaded: June 4th, 2022