Well, you all gave me your guesses, so here's more chapter! Whoo!
Vlad couldnt believe that he was actually BEGGING the boy to talk to him, but he was at a loss right now. These mood shifts from Danny were unnerving to say the least, and he actually began worrying for the boy's mental health. Danny had gone from screaming hellfire rage to looking lost, forlorn, and, dare he say it, fearful. But of WHAT? WHAT was WRONG? "Please, Daniel."
The younger halfa gripped the arms of the chair he was sitting in tighly, as though he was waiting for something horrible to happen; or rather, that something horrible WAS happening. Vlad waited with bated breath for Danny to say something -ANYTHING- to help him understand. The minutes dragged on with Danny saying nothing, and Vlad was near his wit's end when he suddenly noticed how cold the room was. He shuddered and exhaled, seeing his own breath, then turned to see Danny gripping the arms of the chair even more tightly, the bracelet on his wrist crackling softly.
Vlad understood the cold; Danny's power was forcing itself out from his core, and it was actually malfunctioning the bracelet. This fact alone shocked him; he had tested that bracelet himself, and it withstood his power no matter what he'd tried to force out. Still, if he didnt take the bracelet off, then Danny's powers could keep building up like that inside of the boy and perhaps cause some damage. He stepped forward and unlocked the bracelet, and it immediately shattered to pieces as Danny's transformation rings sprung forth from their own will, and Phantom sat in the chair instead of Fenton.
A blast of cold air hit Vlad, but after it died down, nothing else much happened, and the room began to warm again. Only this time, it was Danny who looked cold; the boy was shaking. "...Daniel, are you alright?" Vlad asked slowly, reaching out for the boy again, only to draw his hand back when Danny violently flinched. When Danny's head moved, Vlad could now see that beneath the curtain of white hair, Danny was crying. Alarmed, Vlad cried, "Daniel, what's wrong?"
"...Vlad..." Danny said after a moment, his voice disturbingly small and weak, "...am...am I a bad person...?"
What in the world was the boy saying? "Daniel, what are you talking about?" Vlad asked, kneeling down on one knee to be at eye-level with the boy. "You're the hero of this town, of COURSE you're not-"
"I hate, Vlad!" Danny suddenly shouted, another rush of cold flowing through the room, Danny's eyes a swirl of ice blue and green. "I...I FEEL hate! 'Good' people dont fell HATE! I'm..." He raised both hands to cover his face with. "...I'm...so angry...ALL the time...! I want to HURT people! I want to...to DESTROY things! I feel HATRED, and I dont know WHY!" A shudder convulsed over Danny's body, and Vlad felt another wave of cold. The elder halfa had a hunch that Danny was concealing as much power as he could from getting out, and the cold was the by-product of that. "...I dont know why..."
"Daniel, you are NOT a bad person!" He reached forward and held Danny's shoulders in his hands. "I...I dont know WHY you have such negative emotions, but it does NOT mean that you are bad!" Danny only shook his head, his convulsing getting more frequent and violent. "Daniel, calm down, it's alright, it's...Daniel...? ...Daniel, BREATHE, FOR GOODNESS SAKE, BREATHE!"
Danny had begun hyperventilating violently, his hands gripping his hair tightly as though pushing back something horrible from his mind. His eyes snapped open, and Vlad nearly drew back when he saw that they were flashing red in between the blue and the green.
"BREATHE! PLEASE, Daniel! DAMN IT! ANDREW!" He pulled Danny off of the chair and into his arms. "ANDREW, GET IN HERE!"
Just a moment later, the Ghostwriter flew into the room, confusion registering on his face. "Vlad, what on EARTH-!" He yelped when he suddenly found himself with an armful of shaking, hyperventilating teenager.
"ANDREW, HOLD HIM WHILE I GET A SEDATIVE!" He bolted up and ran for his lab. "TELL HIM TO BREATHE!"
The 'Writer shifted the boy around in his arms so Danny was half-lying back. "Try to breathe," he relayed, following Vlad's instructions. "Just...just try to take a deep breath...!" The hell was he even doing? He didnt know how to calm down an overly-emotional teenager! Where the hell was Vlad? "D..Danny, just...!" He broke off when he noticed, to his astonishment, that Danny was, in fact, breathing more deeply. The red tint in the boy's eyes faded away back to their usual radioactive green just as Vlad came back with a syringe of green-tinted clear liquid. "Vlad, he's calming down!" he said to the elder halfa.
Vlad knelt down next to Danny and Andrew, and took one of Danny's arms. "This will just help you relax, alright, Daniel?" he said softly, holding up the syringe for Danny to see. "I swear it wont do anything but that." Seeing no resistance from the boy, Vlad stuck the needle into Danny's arm and emptied the syringe into it.
Danny flinched only a little, but then relaxed and transformed back into his human form before completely passing out in the Ghostwriter's arms.
Vlad ran a shaking hand through his hair and took Danny away from the 'Writer. "Thank you, Andrew," he said, standing up. The 'Writer followed suit, tailing Vlad as the elder halfa made his way up to another room for Danny to sleep in.
"What the hell was THAT, Vlad?" he asked, keeping his voice down as Vlad tucked the boy into bed. Vlad shook his head, staring down at the disheveled teenager almost sadly.
"...I have no clue, Andrew," he replied. "I...honestly have no clue." He reached his hand out as though to brush back Danny's hair, but seemed to think better of it, and turned to leave the room. Andrew once more followed him, and watched as Vlad shakily sat down on the couch, leaning forward to put his face in both hands. Andrew left Vlad for a moment to go into the kitchen and get Vlad a cup of chamomile, and came back to find Vlad in the same position as when he left.
"Here," he said, holding the cup and saucer out to the elder halfa. Vlad looked up and took the dishes with still-shaking hands and sipped the drink.
"Thank you, Andrew," he said, his voice weak. The two of them sat in silence for awhile as Vlad calmed his nerves and polished off the tea, then Vlad set the cup and saucer down on the coffee table and heaved a heavy sigh. "...What on Earth was that?" he asked, mostly to himself.
"Havent a clue," Andrew replied, leaning back on the couch next to Vlad. "What was he doing home so early, anyway?"
"Suspension from school," Vlad said dourly. "He got into a fight with one of the boys from school that had apparently been bullying him since freshman year...broke his nose, knocked out a couple of teeth, and gave him a concussion."
"Ow," Ghostwriter said, wincing. "I'll admit, Vlad, that really DOESNT sound like the boy. I may hold a grudge against Phantom, but even I know that the boy isnt excessively violent. THAT sounded like overkill, especially for a schoolyard brawl. Are you SURE it isnt puberty?"
"Quite," Vlad replied. "I just...cant help but think that this is somehow connected to his ghost half...I just cant say why or how. I've been studying ghosts for awhile now, but I havent really..." He broke off, then turned to the 'Writer. "Andrew, do ghosts usually have bad bouts of violent behavior like that?"
"Not that I know of," Andrew replied, shrugging. "Ghosts' personalities and temperments are generally set in stone from their time of death, depending on the person they were when they were alive. An excessively violent person becomes and excessively violent ghost; a mild-mannered person becomes a mild-mannered ghost. It's just how it is." He gave Vlad a sidelong glance. "Maybe it's a halfa thing, I dunno."
Vlad rolled his eyes, then froze, his eyes widening. "I...halfa...?" He bolted up and ran for his lab again, and Andrew followed.
"Vlad, what is it?" he called as he faught to catch up.
"I'm such an IDIOT!" Vlad shouted to himself. "Halfa...of COURSE! I know what's wrong with Daniel!"
Aaaand, I'm going to leave it there and make ya'll suffer. *evil laugh*