Note: Another clones ficlet because I am weak. This one is in response to a post by the-punning-ubus about how messed up Kindred Spirits is. And it is so messed up and definitely the most tragic of the series. Because multiple innocent children die on screen and unlike TUE where all the horrible stuff gets reversed, those children stay dead. The three that Danny fought were supposedly mindfulness but we don't know that for sure but Vlad intentionally led them to their deaths and was willing to do the same to Dani. What really messes me up though is thinking about Vlad's prime clone because he would not have been mindless like the others but would have been like Danielle, a living breathing thinking person. He had a name, I have no doubt Vlad named him Daniel. He was genetically Danny's twin, his brother, like Dani is his sister and he never got a chance to live. He never got to make his own choices. What really bothers me is what could have happened.

Daniel was very surprised he wasn't dead. Or well… he was a half ghost so...maybe he kinda was? Either way, he was sure he was goner when he suddenly woke up and was on the floor. He watched his arm sizzle away to nothing, the pain blinding. His legs were following suit, ectoplasm dripping from his mouth. And then...his core? His heart? Something in his chest spasmed. There was a flash of white light and his vision went black.

The boy awoke on the floor to voices arguing over him. He turns his head and...there is the man with long hair, his father. A spike of fear shots through him; Father is unconscious. Daniel tries to crawl towards him. He tries to call out. "Father. Father. Wake...wake up." But his voice is so quiet, muffled from disuse.

Pairs of feet appear around him. He looks to the side and it's… Danielle and Danny. The words are just there, in his head but he doesn't question. He reaches Father and starts trying to shake him awake. Hands grab him, voices tell him to stop. The two half ghosts, they look just like him, argue with him. The girl asks him to go with them. But Daniel refuses. He kicks and flails.

"Father! Father!" He needs to stay with Father.

Daniel breaks free. He falls to the floor, kneels by Father, and shakes him again.

"Stop!" Danielle argues. "You need to come with us."

She pulls him back again and he screams.

"Dani, stop." Danny interrupts. "We need to get out of here." His face is sad. "If he doesn't want to come with us, we can't make him."

"But-" Danielle, Dani, tries to argue. She gives up as Daniel continues screaming. She lets go and… "I'll come back for you."

The others leave and soon Father wakes up.

Vlad is happy at first. His prime clone is alive. The boy is unquestionably loyal and loving. He is obedient, never questions but…. Deep down Vlad is bothered. He never got the mid morph sample to stabilize the clone. He cannot use his powers for any length of time without the risk of melting. Vlad works to find a solution. He could try kidnapping Danny again but… the boy knows that is coming and the ectoplasm injections are working for now. Things are fine for now.

For a time, Daniel is the model son. He is happy with his Father except…

His Father is not a happy man. The man is bitter and his expectations are high. Daniel tries to meet them and he is not perfect, despite what his father used to say. Father is increasingly cold, less attentive. He's in the lab more often. Trying to cure him? Daniel doesn't know but... he starts doubting when Danielle comes back as she promises. One day while Father is away and he is in the garden, Dani returns and she argues with him.

"You can come with me, right now. Together. Come on, Daniel." The boy refuses and Dani begs. "Please. He's using you. You have to see that."

"Father loves me." Daniel is sure.

"Loves?" Dani's lip trembles. "That man… I thought he loved me but… he...never cared what...what happened to me."

Daniel doesn't believe her and he says as much. Dani leaves in a huff but...the thoughts are there now. He asks his Father about what happened with Dani. The man says she betrayed him and ran away but Vlad might try to reassure him but… 'he never cared about me.' There is doubt. The clone tries to push them away. But Daniel's doubt grows every time he hears Vlad talk and interact with Dani. Every time Vlad has some nefarious plan and he has Daniel fight Danny and /or Dani, Daniel's doubt grows. Danny and Dani try to convince him to leave Vlad and make it obvious they don't want to fight or hurt him.

And everytime he sees them, he remembers his first day of life, when Dani begged him to leave with them but Danny didn't force him, despite wanting to.

Daniel's doubts and curiosity grow to a point where he sneaks out to meet with Danny. Maybe he wants to know more about Vlad and see if what Vlad has told him about Danny is true. Maybe he just wants to be away from Vlad for a while and has no one else to go to. Danny is wary but after he's sure it's not a trick, he opens up. This starts happening over and over again. They hang out and play video games and complain about Vlad. Daniel starts opening up about his shameful doubts. If his 'Father' could throw away Dani like that, then would he do the same to him? And he shares how badly Vlad treats him because as much as Daniel pretends, Vlad is not a loving parent. Danny tries to convince him to leave Vlad, promising to help him fight Vlad if he needs to.

But Daniel is afraid because Vlad is all he's ever known and if he turns on Vlad, he'll have nothing and Vlad would never forgive him (Vlad certainly has never forgiven Dani). Danny can't believe he's saying this but he tells Daniel that if he leaves, he won't be alone. He'll have Danny and Dani as his family if he wants them.

Daniel is actually shocked. He hadn't expected that at all. He thought before that Danny just tolerated him at best and only argued that he should leave Vlad because he didn't like Vlad and didn't want Vlad to have someone helping with his plans, because getting Daniel to leave would mean one less obstacle when he fights Vlad. But Danny actually does care about him.

Daniel doesn't know how to process that but says he'll think about it. And he does. He can't stop thinking about it. And everything eventually comes to a breaking point when Vlad asks Daniel to do something he knows is wrong. He asks him to kill Danielle but Daniel can't. He can't hurt one of the only two people who had ever treated him kindly, who offered to help him, who see him as family even if he doesn't yet. So he tells Vlad no. He refuses to do that and Vlad gets pissed. Vlad beats Daniel up, badly. Daniel fights to escape and he barely does, fleeing to Danny, the only person who can help him. Danny and Danielle are actually together when he finds them. Daniel barely manages to tell them what happened before he passes out, turning human. Vlad is right on his tail, also injured from the fight but even more angry. Danny and Dani manage to defend the unconscious Daniel and fight Vlad, actually capturing him.

Daniel wakes up in Danny's bed with Danny and Dani standing over him. They had treated his injuries. The pair hug him, happy that he's okay. Daniel is stunned, part upset that he turned on Vlad, part happy that he's alive and with Danny and Dani, part afraid of what he's going to do now.

Danny looks at Dani, and Daniel. He never in a million years thought something like this would happen. That he would be cloned and come to love his two clones like siblings. Because they are his siblings and they deserve a family, especially after what just happened. He decides to do something he should have done a long time ago; he's going to tell his parents about everything.