Wednesdays Are Not Fun
7:00 AM
Danny woke up to his alarm blaring at him.
He scrunched his eyes against the light. He really should be thankful that he even had the chance to sleep until the alarm, most of the times it was his ghost sense waking him up prior. He really should try to put it in perspective-but somehow the alarm felt worse. How was it when he finally got enough sleep he just felt more tired.
With a groan, he rolled over—he had to get up—he had too much to do today.
He plopped himself up on one arm, turning his alarm off. Right when he was about to pull himself out of bed, he felt something—almost like a pull in his gut, not painful but not exactly pleasant.
Before he could even guess what it was, everything turned into a blur…
7:07 AM
Sam suddenly felt a pressure hit the other side of the bed followed by an "oof."
She twisted over quickly, eyes widening, and saw probably one of the cutest things ever: her boyfriend was staring at her wide-eyed and confused. He blinked once at her, then again.
"Hey," she said, smirking.
"Hey?" he said, sounding just as confused as he looked.
"Whatcha doing?"
Danny blinked again. "I think I just teleported."
"You think?"
"Well, it felt like the last time a little bit."
"You've done this before?"
"Once or twice. I was hoping it would just go away if I ignored it."
"Danny," Sam groaned. She looked over at him, giving him an exasperated look.
He only answered her with a wide smile—her heart giving a small jolt at the sight. With the way the morning light was hugging his face and his messy hair tuffed up in that cute way—she really couldn't help but just stare at him.
"Well, this power can't be too bad if it means it brings me to you," he breathed, giving her a half-smirk. He stroked her hair, draping it behind her ear. "In your bed." He raised his eyebrows at her with a goofy expression on his face.
"Oh my God," Sam groaned again, taking her pillow and shoving it in her boyfriend's face.
Danny's muffled laughs filled her room, so contagious that eventually she was laughing along with him and suddenly, he was on top of her—looking down at her while holding his weight up by his arms.
She smiled up at him, practically beaming. She had to admit, this was not a bad way to wake up.
"You are beautiful," he said—sounding like he was in awe.
Sam only answered him by grabbing the back of his head, leading him down into a kiss.
Their lips barely touched, and he was gone, leaving only empty air behind.
9:32 AM
"One," Dash puffed, curling his arm inwards against the weight in his hands.
"Two."
"Three." Making sure his form was good, Dash glared at his reflection in the mirror.
He lowered his arms, already pulling up into another rep.
Then, suddenly Danny was there.
"Jeez!" Dash nearly jumped, almost dropping the weights.
Danny was gripping the sides of the free-weight station, breathing heavily.
Dash immediately put the weights down, heart still hammering from the scare. It was not every day one of his friends just appeared out of thin air—okay it was nearly every day but Danny tended to only do that in the apartment or when there was an actual reason to—not like this, out in such a public place.
Trying to collect himself—he really should be used to this kind of stuff by now. "What are you doing here?"
Dash looked around him, then. Thankfully, nobody was here. Nobody was ever here at this time—most were in morning classes—but it didn't hurt to check. Call him paranoid, but ever since Paulina said she knew Danny was Phantom, he felt like anybody could know or find out at this point.
"I—" Danny sputtered, his bodying leaning one way. He looked like he was about to pass out.
Okay, well this was not good. Now, Dash was really worried. "Are you okay?"
"Can't stop," Danny heaved, his chest rising and falling too quickly.
"Can't stop what?" Dash pressed, trying to get his friend to focus—but for some reason, despite the fact that the halfa was looking at him, he felt like Danny wasn't really seeing him. Dash was half expecting him to drop on the spot, that's how bad he looked.
Dash shook his head. Not liking this at all. "Doesn't matter, come on. I'm gonna help you back."
Dash reached out, fully prepared to all but drag his friend back to the apartment before calling his parents, but before he could even make contact, Danny disappeared. One minute he was there and suddenly he wasn't.
"Shit," Dash said. Even though he didn't know a lot about half-ghosts, he knew enough to have a bad feeling.
Abandoning his workout, Dash made a run for the exit, phone already in hand.
9:45 AM
"Thank you for calling," Maddie said, her expression grim with worry.
Jack was looking at his wife with the same expression. They were in the lab when the calls from Danny's friends started. They were in the middle of getting their equipment together when Dash called. Now, he was just waiting to see what new information Maddie had, hoping it was some good news.
"No, Dash, I want you to cover the school area—grab a spectral tracker from Danny or Tucker's room. I just gave them the newest models last week; they should be there. Sam called before you, she said she already saw Danny twice. We think he is teleporting and can't control it."
There was a pause. Whatever Dash said seemed to have worried his wife more, her expression looking damn-well distraught now. Jack's stomach began to turn. His wife was usually the calm, cool, collected one—to see her reaction like that—well this wasn't good.
"Okay," she said, her voice wobbled but strengthened. "When you see him, call us immediately."
"Thank you." she hung up, then looking at Jack.
"What?"
"Dash said when he saw Danny, he didn't look good—like he was sick."
"You think it's the teleporting?"
"It's the only logical cause," she said. "I think he is teleporting too much for his body to handle it. Sam and Tucker said, when they were looking at the spectral tracker—it looked like he was making jumps everywhere."
"How can we get him to stop?" Jack asked, almost desperately. This was all new to them. This power seemed to not be like all the other new ones—for some reason it was causing more harm on his son's body.
"I—
There was a crash—the sound of broken beakers and metal ricocheted throughout the lab. The source was on one of the tables, unfortunately the one with the most equipment on it. Danny laid there, barely moving.
"Danny," Maddie screamed, running to him with Jack on her heels.
Danny didn't react to her voice. He looked at bit roughed up, bruises and cuts littered his arms. He was bleeding from his temple.
Jack shook his shoulder. "Danny, can you hear me?"
Danny's eyes cracked open. "Dad," he mumbled.
Jack began to smile. "Hey—stay with us, okay? We are going to fix it."
Danny began to return the smile—but stopped, grimacing, clutching his stomach. "Oh no, no, no."
"Danny? What's wrong?" Maddie asked, looking terrified.
Jack's eyes widened. "Danny!" he lunged for his son but his hand met air.
His son was already gone.
12:30 PM
Vlad was reading the morning paper with his lunch when Danny appeared—popping into sudden existence, nearly crashing into the dining room table.
Vlad blinked at the boy, lowering his paper.
Huh, he didn't know Daniel could teleport.
He gave the younger halfa a questioning look—his reaction tamed since, well, when you dealt with ghosts for so long and you were one, sudden appearances out of the blue lost its scare.
Despite this, the boy's state, however, did begin to scare him.
"Daniel?" Vlad was already getting up from his spot to close the gap between the two.
The boy was pale and trembling. He could see dried blood on his temple and an alarming amount of nearly-healed cuts and bruises on his arms. Vlad couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong.
The boy looked at Vlad, then, seeming to focus on him. He stepped toward Vlad, but then stumbled into the wall—using it to support himself.
Danny closed his eyes, his face tinged green, a sheer blanket of sweat on his forehead.
"Daniel?" Vlad said again, trying to get the boy's attention.
The boy's eyes remained closed. "Vlad, I don't feel so good," he said.
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know," Danny's eyes were wide open, now, staring at the older halfa. He was shaking all over and seemed to not be able to catch his breath. "I can't stop."
Fear struck Vlad stiff. He has never, in all his years knowing the boy, ever seen him like this. "Stop what?"
Danny swallowed, nearly dipping further into the wall. Vlad reached out just in case he fell, but the boy seemed to have righted himself, but barely. "Teleporting. I don't know how to stop. I just keep doing it. At first, it was annoying but now, something is wrong. I don't feel right."
Vlad felt the pit of his stomach drop. "Daniel, how many times have you teleported?"
Daniel looked at him with wide eyes, looking terrified, his breathing still uncontrolled and hard. "I don't know. A lot."
"That's impossible."
Danny huffed a laugh, giving the man a tired but sarcastic look.
Vlad gave him a leveled look. "Okay, I recognize how that sounds, but I'm serious."
"Well, I guess that just makes me even more special," Danny said. "Yippee."
The man gave Danny an exasperated look. Sometimes he forgot just how clueless the boy was—clueless about many, many things—like when not to crack jokes.
Danny gave a shout of pain, doubling over.
Vlad felt his heart begin to race. No. He couldn't be teleporting again. Not with his body like this.
The younger halfa began to fall, dipping toward the floor, but disappeared before he could make contact.
Vlad was left standing there, still looking at the spot where Danny last was.
If Danny's body was this drained and he was still teleporting—Vlad honestly didn't even want to think about it, about what this would mean. All he knew was there was no time to waste, he had to find the boy and either get him to his parents or back here to treat him before anything was too damaged to fix.
But, how was he going to find the boy and get to him quickly enough to keep him from teleporting again and treat him?
Just when he was truly about to start panicking, he heard a crash from the foyer.
Vlad sprinted toward the sound, certain it was the object of all his fear.
Turning the last corner, the man found Daniel sprawled on the floor with broken bits of wood around him—remains of the unfortunate table under where he must have fallen.
Luckily—and Vlad truly didn't know how—Danny was still conscious.
"Ouch," the boy said with a gasp of air.
Not wasting any time, especially since Vlad did not know when Danny was going to teleport again. "Can you get up on your own," Vlad asked, not sure of the boy's state. It didn't look like a feat the boy could accomplish at this time.
Danny looked up at Vlad. He looked worse. Again, Vlad felt the pit of his stomach drop. "You know what," Vlad interrupted whatever answer the boy was about to give him. "don't answer that, I'm helping you anyway."
Between the two of them, Vlad was able to get Danny right-side up.
Unfortunately, the effort seemed to have taken a bit out of Danny. However, time was not on their side, and Vlad could not give the halfa the time to recover from the strain, instead walking the boy towards his study where the entrance to his secret lab was—a place he hadn't visited in a long while, but it had everything he could possibly need to help the boy
Luckily, the study wasn't far off from the foyer, and they were there soon.
"Where did you go?" Vlad pressed, trying to keep Daniel engaged as they moved.
Danny shuddered, "Paulina's bedroom. She was getting dressed…She almost killed me. I've never seen that much rage in such a tiny person."
Vlad groaned, "Daniel, please be serious."
"No, you're right. I've seen more anger in Sam. But, it was a pretty close second."
Vlad nearly groaned, but at least the boy was talking to him despite the danger of unconsciousness looming.
Still holding up Daniel, Vlad pushed open the door to his study, nearly dragging him to the secret passage in the fireplace.
"Why are we going down to your lab?" Daniel barely said, his breathing was still too quick. Vlad pushed one of the trophies backward, triggering the fireplace to open to the hidden stairs.
"I have everything I need," Vlad grunted under Daniel's weight, trying to gently help him down the stairs, "down there."
"I always wondered why you were so into your secret passages," Daniel said. "I kinda think they're cool now, less creepy. But, still definitely creepy, though."
"You're getting delirious," Vlad said. Despite the humor in what Daniel was saying, he only felt dread.
"Probably."
There was a long silence between the two, their focus on the task at hand.
They finally reached the base of the steps. By the time they did, Danny was looking grey and most of his weight was being held up by Vlad. Not good. Definitely, not good.
Vlad was able to get him on one of the examination tables. He immediately reached for a device to measure the boy's vitals, hooking him up to the necessary tubes and wires to get the readings, his eyes never leaving the screen. He had an idea of what must have been wrong but he needed to make sure.
After what seemed like too long, the readings appeared. Vlad glared at them. They weren't exactly bad, but not good. Blood pressure was low, heart rate elevated. Oxygen saturation was within normal limits but starting to dip.
He quickly retrieved another device, a glucometer. It would provide confirmation if it was truly what he thought it was… Teleporting took an incredible amount of energy and if Daniel was doing it continuously while doing it in human form, well that didn't leave much room for guesswork on what the problem could be.
He grabbed one of the boy's hands, cleaning a finger with an alcohol pad.
Daniel chuckled, "Just like old times."
Vlad nearly growled. "This is not funny."
"Kinda is."
Vlad chose to ignore this, not liking the boy's dark humor especially at this time. "I'm going to stick you with a small needle on your finger. It will feel like a pinch. I need a little bit of blood."
"Why?"
Vlad stuck the finger, blood began to pool. Acting quickly, he stuck the tip of the device into it. The device began circulating, reading the blood and resulted quickly. A spike of cold, harsh fear shot down his back, making his hairs stand on end. 11. It was 11. Instantly, a list of what could go wrong started going through his head. Seizures, coma, organs shutting down-he knew a half-ghost hybrid's body could withstand a fair amount of stress, but for how much longer?
He was not going to wait to find out. Vlad immediately jumped into action, a cold determination taking over him.
"What's wrong?"
"Your glucose levels are dangerously low," Vlad said, not stopping in his mad dash for supplies. He pulled drawer after drawer, getting what he needed and flinging what was ever in the way forcefully to the side. He could not afford to be any slower.
"What does that mean?"
"No time to explain, but basically, your human and ghost body can't handle the energy it is taking to support teleporting at this high of a rate."
Vlad ran over with his supplies in hand, spreading them quickly across the nearest table and tearing open the plastic wrappings, all the while praying he had everything.
He took a syringe out first. It was filled with glucagon, something that could boost his glucose just enough to stabilize him in the moment—buy the older halfa enough time to start something more permanent and continuous. He screwed on the needle.
"I'm going to inject this in your arm; it will help," he said. "Ready?" Not really giving Daniel much time to respond.
The boy nodded, looking unfocused.
He quickly cleaned the boy's bicep then plunged the needle in, injecting the glucagon.
Vlad put the empty needle to the side, out of the way. At least that would give them a little more time. He returned to his supplies, trying to pick through them to find what he needed.
Daniel groaned, "Vlad."
Vlad looked over, not liking the boy's tone.
The boy paled, his breathing escalating into shallow quick breaths. His actual body was fading!
Fear had Vlad gripping Daniel painfully around the shoulders—as if he could bring him back to this physical plane by force alone. He knew Daniel's human half was not going to be able to take another jump without disastrous consequences, especially if he could not get back here where he could be treated emergently.
"Danny, you need to find an anchor—something that keeps you tied to the human world. Think of it and cling to it with every fiber of your being."
"Sam," Danny muttered, half deliriously, his eyes still scrunched in concentration as if he was picturing the girl. It was obvious he was trying with all his might to fight the urge to teleport—intuitively knowing how dangerous the consequences were.
If it wasn't for the desperate situation at hand, Vlad would have laughed—even when the boy was barely conscious he thought about that girl.
After a minute, the boy's form became more solid, face still scrunched in concentration.
"Good," Vlad confirmed, releasing a breath. Despite the mild sense of relief, Vlad did not waste a moment, he returned to all the supplies, picking up an IV kit. If he was going to help Daniel, he would need to start one in order to give him the glucose his body needed. Unfortunately, a simple fix would not due, the boy needed continuous flow of dextrose in order for his body to stabilize.
"Daniel?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm going to start an IV, I need to give you dextrose to make you feel better."
"What's that?" Daniel cracked his eyes open, looking at the needle in Vlad's hand.
"Basically, sugar in fluid," Vlad said as he started prepping the younger half-ghost's arm for the IV, wrapping a tight band around the arm in order to visualize a vein. Once the man found a promising one, he plunged the IV in, trying to maneuver as close to textbook as he could. Luckily, there was blood returning in the small containment section; he quickly drew back the needle part and left the cannula in, hooking it to the tubing that was connected to the dextrose—letting the fluid just flow in from gravity alone.
"I didn't like that," Daniel said, the man was honestly surprised the boy was still conscious—let alone talking.
Now that Daniel was at least being treated, the man could relax for a moment. He quirked an eyebrow at the boy. "You get thrown through buildings and blasted on a daily basis, and you can't take a needle?"
The boy nearly looked offended. "Too mad scientist-y."
Vlad opened his mouth to contradict the statement, but stopped. Well, the boy kind of had a point. If the world ever found out about their particularly rare and new species, let's just say the mad scientist fear had some merit to it. Despite the validity in the boy's statement, Vlad chose not to pursue that conversation. "Despite that, this should help you feel better."
Vlad took Daniel's blood glucose again. Daniel was beginning to go in and out—he barely noticed this time.
The older man let out a sigh of relief when the resulting number was 56. Much better—not normal range—but definitely good enough to be out of extreme danger.
"I think we are starting to turn this around," Vlad mumbled, both to himself and Daniel.
"That's good," the boy said, looking at the man through half-lidded eyes. He looked tired. He was probably starting to succumb to all the effects of teleporting.
Vlad smiled, mussing the boy's hair. He could not fight the extreme relief he was feeling—to the point where it almost made him feel giddy. "Go to sleep—I will call everybody and let them know you are here and okay."
Daniel's eyes closed then, his body relaxing. "Thanks, Vlad."
"Anytime," the man assured with a smile, but he knew the younger halfa didn't hear him, already asleep on the table.
Daniel was finally asleep, giving his body the rest it needed.
Vlad managed to get the boy to an actual bedroom and attended to the various wounds that he must have acquired on his many teleportations. The fluids with dextrose were still running through the IV connected to him, and Vlad was checking his blood glucose once every hour—but so far so good. It seemed they were out of the woods, but Vlad would not be a hundred percent sure until the Fentons got here.
With the boy's parents and friends contacted, Vlad was left with only his own thoughts to preoccupy him while he waited. And, now that the situation was handled and Daniel was safe, Vlad had the time and clarity to think of what happened today.
Despite Vlad and Daniel sharing the same condition, it was interesting to see how truly different they were. While teleporting did not prove to be as heinous to his body, Vlad still did need an anchor, something he learned during the development of this ability. However, that was where the similarities ended. Vlad's own anchor was something more sinister—it was hatred. A concept he preferred not to dwell on for too long.
It was also curious how easily Daniel's body succumbed to teleportation despite his body's obvious depletion of energy. This could have been due to the fluidity between both his forms, fluidity Vlad's two forms lacked due to Daniel undergoing perfect unison between his ghost and human sides during the accident.
Vlad found this difference in their accidents was the most likely key to the difference in ghost forms between himself and the boy.
"How is he?"
Vlad turned in his seat to see a very flustered looking Sam Manson at the entrance to the bedroom. The girl probably let herself in using the key he recently gave her and Tucker, just in case there was an emergency.
Not waiting for a response, she rushed over to the other side of the bed. She sat on the edge, putting a hand on Daniel's forehead for a second, then stroking back his hair—parting it away from his closed eyes.
"I was able to stabilize him in the lab. He's asleep, now," Vlad clarified. "It will just take some time to heal and re-energize."
Sam nodded. Her attention, then, went to the IV drip following the tube to where it was connected to Daniel. She gave Vlad a questioning look.
"His blood sugar was extremely low from all the teleportations. This IV is giving him dextrose, which is sustaining him for now. He might just need it for a day or so, but I won't be sure until his parents assess him."
Sam eyed the IV warily. Vlad could not guess what the girl was thinking, only hoping it wasn't any ill thoughts of his actions. He knew the truce he had with Daniel's friends, unbeknownst to Daniel, was shaky at best.
"I don't know a lot about that stuff," Sam said, her eyes focused on Daniel. "So, you are going to have to tell me; how bad was it? The blood sugar thing."
Vlad looked at Daniel. His coloring was thankfully starting to restore, no longer the green pallor it was. He wanted to spare her of the details, something he wasn't sure if Daniel wanted or not. However, he chose to tell the truth; if anything, only because he wanted to be transparent with her. "It was bad. Extremely low levels of blood sugar can cause fatal or near fatal consequences—this is the natural source of a human's energy and capability to function. Frankly, I don't know how he survived with how low they were when I initially took them, but this could probably be due to his ghost half sustaining him too. It was a close call, but we fixed it."
"Do you think it will happen again?"
Vlad shrugged. "I'm not sure, but he did stop teleporting. Hopefully, he managed enough control to stop doing it unconsciously and that frequently."
Sam looked at him then, fixing him with those deep violet eyes. Her expression was strangely soft, looking almost out of place on her. "Thank you."
She did not say anything else but just that, but somehow, the simple statement was filled with such rawness and reverence that Vlad could only muster a nod—not able to speak around the sudden knot in his throat.
He did not know why he was filled with sudden emotion—maybe it was all finally spewing out after the day's events. Despite the pit-dropping fear and relief he was feeling, he was also…happy? He didn't know if that was the right way to put it—but happy he was here today to help. He finally felt like he was doing something right.
Finally, he had a place—a place where he felt belonged.
Might be some mistakes because I'm rusty and writing felt weird... :/
Review: Guest: I'm really loving this story. There's this strange sense of foreboding that leaves me scared yet excited for whats to come. I feel that seems to happen in stories where Danny reaches a certain point of adulthood - be it from his combined sense of maturity and experience, or maybe something else - he seems to become the humble, all knowing hero that I personally believe would be his true character development trajectory had Butch Hartman continued. You encapsulate this completely, and not just for Danny. You've captured the personalities of all of the characters wholly. And I love when Team Phantom grows to include those other beloved characters who, I believe, deserved that small redemption as time went on and they were able to grow. (e.g. Dash, Paulina, Vlad) You are extremely talented and I hope you continue to write this fic!
Answer: Oh yessss, there is definitely a tone of foreboding…If I ever finish—which I intend to, life is just hectic because I'm a nurse and well covid so yeah long times in between updates-but definitely get ready. But thank you so much for the review! I will definitely keep up the updates no matter how slow I am, haha (bear with me).
