The front door to Vlad Masters' mansion bursted inwards as Sam's heavy boot connected in a kick that would have made any martial artist proud. She stomped her way into the well furnished parlor declaring

"Get in here you crazed up fruit loop!" Her demand lingered in the air as silence fell loudly on the room and Tucker poked his head in through the still open doorway.

"Ahhh if it isn't young Samantha Manson," Vlad called as he strolled into sight. "To what do I owe the.. pleasure?" His sharp eyes switching between studying the two teens and eyeing the shards of his broken door frame as Tucker darted in to Sam's side. "Tell us what's wrong with Danny!" Sam glared at the middle aged halfa, expecting a smug calculated response. What she got was much less. Vlad's face fell at the mention of the young Halfa. His plastered smile faded and his eyes would not meet Sam's. "Let's take this downstairs," he said, gesturing behind him. Sam and Tucker watched as Masters turned and walked into the darkened corridor he had entered from. A glance passed between the two friends before they followed the half-ghost, Sam stomping loudly. They turned through several hallways before descending down a badly hidden staircase. They came into a lab destroyed. Broken glass lined the walls, beakers and vials obviously smashed against them in fits of rage. Tables had been overturned and the large bank of monitors sat deactivated. As Sam took in the disarray of the once pristine lab, she noticed Vlad falling into a chair, his head hanging low, fingers running through his hair. She tried to keep her resolve. Gathering herself she stomped forward to the monster of a man in front of her. "Tell me," she forced, hoping her voice didn't shake. "Tell me what is wrong with Danny!"

Silence held in the air as Vlad slowly raised his head to meet Sam's gaze, his hand dragging down the side of his face. She barely held in a gasp at how hollow they seemed. Vlad had always stricken her as creepy, but now his gaze felt empty, broken somehow. "Nothing." He stood quickly and walked away to the bank of monitors, hands tossed out flippantly waving. "Nothing is wrong. You know, besides being dead." He stood there waiting for a response, examining a sparking cable end hanging from the terminals. Silence hung once again, until Tucker found his voice.

"We know that! But he's back. We found him at the cemetery, but he didnt even notice us." Sam shook slightly at the memory, having looked away from both Tucker and Vlad during their outbursts. The pain was so fresh now. She had buried it down deep and tried to hide it. But after seeing Danny, and having her hopes struck so harshly, it all felt so real again. Gathering resolve she didn't know she had, Sam returned to the offensive. "His ghost is back, we need you to help us save the rest of him!"

Vlad's reaction was immediate and booming laughter. Sam didn't know what she expected. But it wasn't laughter. At least not like this. His laughter before may have been evil or even crazy, but it was always the laughter of a man in control. Vlad Masters was a cold and calculating man who rarely lost control. His mind was always sharp and his emotions never left unchecked for long. Or so Sam thought. This laughter that echoed throughout the lab betrayed a madness that she had never seen in the billionaire before. She saw him through new eyes. She saw the lines and wrinkles on his face that had not shown just months before. His suit was frayed in places, cuffs worn thin from being pulled repeatedly. His appearance was only slightly disheveled, but Sam could not remember him ever having so much as a speck on his suit. Perhaps Vlad was worse off than she had thought. She shared a worried glance with Tucker as Vlad's erratic laughter slowly died.

"Save him! You want me to save someone from beyond the grave? If you're interested in raising the dead I suggest you find a priest. Because as far as i'm concerned, death is permanent." Vlad rose and gestured towards the exit. "Now unless you have something less ridiculous to discuss I think its time you left." Turning he moved to open one of the few remaining intact items in the room. A crystal bottle of amber liquid.

"Don't patronize us Vlad." Sam retorted, "We know you can't bring back the dead.. As much as we wish you could. We just want him to be back to the way he was, even if he is a full ghost now. He is still our Danny!"

"Thats right! We just need to get his memories back." Said Tucker. The duo glared together at the villan. Their bravado restored for a moment, feeling the conversation begin to flow in their favor. If only for a moment.

Vlad's eyes widened as he turned to look back at the teens before him, the bottle of whiskey slowly lowering back to the table. "Oh my God. You children really are that naive. You have been hunting ghosts all these years and you still don't get it do you. Did that fool Jack actually never tell you what a ghost is?" Sam reeled. The Fentons had put them through so many ghost lectures she had long since lost count. Of course she knew what a ghost was. They were the dead who couldn't move on. Well, thats what she assumed. The Fentons had put it differently. Tossing around jargon and science talk to explain them without having to explain the soul. But thats just what scientist did when they encountered something they couldn't explain like God or souls. Sure they had research to back it up, but they had been wrong so many times over the years she hadn't really put too much credit towards their claims when it came to anything more than what new weapons they were making.

"Don't tell me you children still believe some fairy tale about ghosts being lost souls or some other garbage." He practically spat the word 'soul'. Sam's cheeks flushed. She dodged the question. "Of course he told us. They're ectoplasmic entities of post-human consciousness."

"Verrry good Samantha." Vlad clapped sarcastically as he rolled his eyes. "Now why don't you explain what that means, hmmm?"

Sam opened her mouth to speak but found herself out of words. Her finger hung in the air as she had prepared to make a point. Did she really not know this?

"Dead people?" Tucker offered.

Vlad practically growled. "You insufferable fools. You and Daniel as well. Imbeciles and fools. Just like his father." Vlad's face fell. Then he returned to the table and the whiskey, taking a long swig before continuing. "After all you've seen and been through, you honestly think ghosts are nothing more than people who've died and stuck around for some reason!" Vlad returned loudly to his chair, whiskey in hand. "There really is no hope for you."

Sam stood stunned. If this were the old Vlad she would have assumed he was scheming. Some elaborate trap set to convince her that his lies were truths. But this was different. The man before her was broken. This was a man who had given up.

"Then what are they. If ghosts aren't what we thought, then what are they?" 'What was that in the park?' The last question went unspoken. She wasn't sure she wanted an answer.

Vlad rolled his eyes lazily towards Sam. She tried to glare daggers into them. But her eyes betrayed her as tears began to form and she broke her gaze. When she looked back after a quiet moment, Vlad's eyes were less sharp somehow. On anyone else she might have called that expression pity.

"Ectoplasm is, strange." He began slowly, turning in his seat to gaze at a green stain on the wall. "It exists everywhere in small amounts. Back in college we discovered it was a lot like gravity. A fundamental force that existed everywhere and affected everything is some small way. It is in its most simple form, a particle of pure energy. So small it doesn't technically exist." Vlad brought a hand up in front of his eyes and rubbed his index finger and thumb together. Like he was trying to pinch a grain of sand. "And yet it exists within every atom of matter. Now even some non-paranormal scientists have begun to take notice of it."

"You mean String Theory?" Sam jumped at Tucker's outburst. Taking her eyes of Vlad to notice her friend's excited face. This wasn't gibberish?

Vlad smiled slightly. "Yes, Maddie and I had been conducting practical experiments with it years before anyone else had even begun theorising to its existence." He exhaled loudly, seemingly lost in a fond memory for a moment. "We found that when ectoplasm is in its purest state like this, it is highly susceptible to conscious thought. Quite literally it was affected by mind over matter. The effects were minute, but it responded to the emotions of those around it. Gathering to and being shaped by intense feelings of joy or pride. But most of all anger." His gaze darkened. "When enough of these particles of pure ectoplasm gathered, and were tainted by a strong emotional trait, they would build enough energy to affect the physical world as we know it. Still barely noticeable under normal circumstances. Ancient cultures believed a skilled warriors could detect his enemies by the bloodlust they emitted. We theorized that they were most likely feeling the effects of these dark feelings and thoughts as they began to manifest."

Sam told herself she was imagining the chill that had formed in the air. "But for the most part, human emotion isn't capable of causing any real world effects under normal circumstances. With one exception. Should a person die during a moment of high emotion, their last moments will cry so loud, they can permanently shape the ectoplasmic energy. This is the moment a ghost is formed. Enough emotional energy gathers that an impression is left on the world. This impression seeks out more similarly shaped energy and absorbs it, until it forms a complete ghost. Most of these ghosts don't even resemble the persons who made them. Just aimless bodies of rage crying out for vengeance for things they don't remember."

Vlad once again slipped into silence as he took another swig from his bottle. Sam's head swam with memories of nameless fiends she Tucker and Danny had defeated over the years. Skeletons and blobs. They had never questioned them. Just happy they were easily defeated and then they went back to trying to live normally while they could. She had so many questions, but Tucker beat her to them. "So what about the others?" Tucker asked. "What about the ghosts with names and memories. The ones who seem almost, human?"

Sam stared at Tucker. He seemed so determined. So strong. She had barely been able to hold back her tears at so many reminders of Danny's death and here he was, standing tall and pushing for the information they needed. Sam was impressed. Her attention returned to Vlad as he began speaking again.

"There are a number of occasions in which a ghost may gain sentience. Most sentient ghosts are not actually post human consciousness. More like beings that were believed in by such a large number of people over such a large amount of time, that a ghost was formed from the emotional influence of the belief. Because of this we have ghosts like Clockwork and Pandora. These are usually the most powerful. For centuries they had people shaping ectoplasm into energy for them. Some even managed to make those of ancient society worship them, thus making themselves more powerful. Can you imagine it! Ghosts claiming to be the gods to the people who imagined them in the first place. Legends coming to life and enslaving those who made the legend. HA!" Vlad laughed a little too loudly, kicking his feet a bit. Sam noticed his cheeks were a bit flushed, and the bottle a bit too empty for her comfort. "And the other ghosts?" She asked. "The ones of individuals."

"Those are a bit more complicated…" Vlad started, after a moment of thought. "Ectoplasm will flow on its own. In some areas it exists in higher concentrations than others. Should someone die within one of these 'Hotspots', they will have more of their consciousness preserved. Amity park is the largest Hotspot in North America. Its why the Fentons decided to come here in the first place. Here ghosts and portals form more easily than almost anywhere else. Some of the ghosts you have encountered where from here in their lives." With this Vlad stood and turned on one of the wall mounted monitors. Then with a flurry of typing a picture of the box ghost appeared. Next to him a black and white picture of a large man moving boxes. "This annoying spectre being the most notable. He died in the thirties. A man of certain mental.. 'challenges'." Sam gasped. The trio had fought him so many times it was almost a game. Had they actually been hitting a mentally handicapped man? Vlad continued. "He had a passion for boxes and a job in a warehouse organizing their product. One night he stayed late one friday, wanting the stacks to be perfect or something. He somehow became trapped under a fallen tower of his beloved boxes. They didn't find the body until the next monday."

Vlad returned to his chair and faced the monitor. "I once captured him and asked him about his past. About his family. He doesn't remember. And he doesn't care. The fact is, no ghost does." He turned and met sam's eyes. He stared for a long moment, a small fire burning in his gaze. "Ghosts exist purely for their obsession. Even if they are preserved with their memories intact, they exist only for the obsession. They can not do anything that does not serve the obsession in some way. Even a conversation is impossible if it doesn't in some way connect with the obsession." With this he finished the bottle and swivelled his chair away from the teens. Throwing his bottle away with a loud crash.

Sam thought of all the ghosts they new. Trying to find some case where this wasn't true. Some exception that she could cling to. Anything that might mean Danny would be different. Frostbite? No, none of the Far Frozen could have ever been people. Poindexter? No again. Even when talking normally, he would always find a way to reference bullies in some way. Could it really be this way? Tears formed in her eyes. She couldn't accept it. Could Danny really be gone? But then, a thought.

"You still haven't finished. What about halfa's?" Vlad's chair twitched. Like he was about to turn, then stopped. "What happens when a halfa dies?" Sam stared expectantly at the back of his chair. It slowly turned. Revealing Vlad once again. "That is the question isn't it. Both Daniel and I have long wondered about that. He never asked me. Much too proud. But in my surveillance of him, I found he often asked himself that. It said as much in his journals." Sam wasn't sure if she should be angry that Vlad had read those, or shocked that Danny had actually kept one. He used to complain that Jazz was trying to make him keep one. Something about him getting the stress out.

"Sadly I never had an answer. For young Daniel, or myself. Now it seems, I do." The lab was once again silent. This is what they came for. She was about to get the information she was so desperate for. But did she want it? Looking around, seeing what had become of Vlad and his lab, she wasn't so sure. But it was too late now.

"Tell us," Sam answered.

Vlad met her eyes for a moment, then Tucker's.

A moment passed.

"OK".

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A/N TADA! My longest chapter by far! Wow. That took a lot. I hope you guys liked it. Now remember, nothing motivates me to write more than reviews! So leave a Review. I COMMAND IT! Or at least strongly encourage it. I cant make you. I dont know where you live. Yet.

CYA LATER!

God bless everybody!