Ghost Hunger

I realize I should probably write stuff for my secret trio thing, but I really just kinda wanted to do this. Plus, these won't take long for me to write. I kinda' wanted to write something Father/Son-ish because Danny and Vlad's relationship could've been immensely complex and I like to think that Danny did go to Vlad whenever he had a problem of the ghostly nature. Constructive criticism is appreciated. Hope you enjoy.

Hot pain suddenly ripped through his stomach, his eyesight blurred and the world seemed to stop. As soon as the sensation came, it left, leaving Danny shaking and sweating in his seat as the Ghost Assault Vehicle rumbled forward. His Mother had taken over driving the GAV as soon as his Father had taken out a few caution cones.

Danny was not happy to be on this road trip for two reasons. The first, being the destination-Vlad's. That fruit loop had invited the Fentons over to his mansion in Wisconsin for the weekend. He'd said it was because " They all needed a vacation from the ghosts." or something like that. And, after about an hour of pouting, uncomfortable staring, and not-so-subtle attempts at manipulation, Jack had managed to convince Maddie to let them all go. So, now Danny was stuck with his archenemy for a whole weekend. And on top of that, the second reason he was unhappy.

Danny's stomach had been hurting on and off for the whole week, gradually getting worse. He was extremely hungry, but every time he's eaten something his stomach felt completely, painfully full, but underneath that there was a hungry void. He'd just wanted to stay at home, in his bed getting over whatever it was that he had.

Unfortunately, that was not the case, because the tall, looming outline of Vlad's mansion was getting closer and closer. While Danny's hope for ever escaping this situation was getting smaller and smaller.

Vlad opened up the door as the family stepped out of the GAV and onto the asphalt. Jack bounded up the stairs to embrace Vlad in a suffocating hug, while Maddie and Jazz walked up behind him and Danny had hung back by the GAV, determined to stay away from Vlad, and recover.

"Ah, the Fentons! How nice to see you all! But, where is Daniel?" Vlad asked in a sweetly fake tone. Jack looked back at the GAV, and ran back to grab Danny and drag him up the stairs.

Danny was laying in the most comfortable bed in existence, fighting through another bout of agony. He hadn't eaten dinner, it would've only made the pain worse. It was barely a tingle that morning, but now he couldn't hold back whimpers.

He couldn't fall asleep because of the spasms, not even the sleeping pills he'd taken had helped any. He hid the extent of his condition from his family, and he obviously didn't say anything to Vlad, that would just be asking for it. He was alone in this.

Vlad flew down the hallway in ghost form, where he knew Danny was sleeping, smiling to himself with pride in his recently hatched plan to get Maddie, Daniel, and Jasmine to join him and leave Jack. He'd given up on trying to kill Jack, wasn't it crueler to make him watch as his beloved family leaves him for a better man? He stopped his musing when he head a stifled scream coming from one of the bedrooms. He darted to the bedroom it came from and phased through the door invisibly.

He saw Daniel, thrashing and clenching his teeth through a fit of pain, his eyes glowing bright green. Vlad turned visible and called out to him, but the boy hadn't even noticed his ghost sense go off. Vlad rushed to Danny's bedside and tried to get him to lay down and relax.

Danny had finally realized that there was another person there as the torture subsided. They were lasting longer now, and it was starting to feel like he'd gone ten rounds with the Specter Deflector. The person gently pushed him back down into his bed and said something. Who is it? he thought What- His thought was cut off by the realization that it was Vlad comforting him.

"W-what do you want, F-fruit loop?" he asked, wincing at the weakness of it.

"Daniel, what's wrong?" Vlad said with concern and a hint of an eyeroll at the nickname.

"N-nothing's wrong. Nightmare."

"You can't be serious, Daniel, your eyes were open."

"I s-sleep with my eyes open."

"Daniel, I know for a fact that you do not sleep with your eyes open. Now tell me what is wrong."

Danny huffed in defeat, and looked at Vlad, deciding if he could trust him or not. Vlad truly looked concerned, his face was pulled into an expression of a worried parent. Danny thought for a moment before sighing and explaining.

"It's been going on all w-week. It started as just stomach rumbling, but it's g-gotten a lot worse. I tried to eat breakfast, but if felt like I was so full I was about to explode. I'm still s-so hungry, but anything I eat makes me feel worse."

Vlad's eyes widened as realized what was happening.

"Daniel-" Vlad began before he cut himself off, contemplating what to say. " You know how ghosts' cores produce their own ectoplasm?" Danny nodded with a confused look.

" Well, you see, Daniel" a long pause " Our cores are different than normal ghost cores. Because we are only half-ghost, our cores are only half-formed.

They don't perform many tasks that full-ghost cores do, for instance, making enough of their own ectoplasm. They do make ectoplasm, but a ghost could not survive on it. It's not enough.

It is a fact that our bodies change what we crave so we can better satisfy its needs. I read an article once about a man who was lost at sea in a lifeboat for a few months, he survived by catching fish, but fish meat does not have enough nutrients in it to keep a human alive, the skin and the eyes of fish, however, are nutrient rich. The man started craving the skin and the eyes in the body's desperate bid to get what it needed. And that is exactly what your body is doing right now. You aren't getting enough ectoplasm, and your body is rejecting all other forms of sustenance until you get enough ectoplasm."

Danny looked up at Vlad with wide eyes.

"S-so how do we get ectoplasm?"

Vlad sighed heavily, he'd been dreading this part.

"We have to feed." he said simply

"W-what? What are we feeding on?"

"Other ghosts." he paused when he saw Danny's horrified face.

"There is a reason, Daniel, that most ghosts fear me, and why the smart ones fear you, if they haven't met you. We only have to feed a few times a year, luckily, but we do have to eat other ghosts. Small, hardly sentient ones are the best to eat."

Danny was shell shocked.

"Y-you're saying I have to eat another ghost to make this stop? Vlad, I-I can't do that. I can't-"

"I know, Little Badger, but you must." Vlad said sadly

"H-how do I know you're not lying to me?"

"Just ask anyone in the Ghost Zone. I can call up Skulker right now."

Danny seemed to wilt as he heard Vlad's certainty that Skulker would back him up on this. That hunter was nothing, if not brutally honest and annoyingly overconfident. Vlad, seeing Danny's resignation, spoke up.

"I can feed you, if you like." Danny looked up at Vlad in surprise

"I have quite a few smaller ghosts contained in my secret lab for this purpose. You can eat here, now, and the next time you're hungry you can fly back here. Any disagreement we had will be put on hold until you return to your home. Do we have a deal?"

Danny blinked up at Vlad. Before his stomach rumbled again, a sign of an incoming fit.

"We've got a deal, Fruit Loop. L-let's get this over with."

Once down in the lab, Vlad fished a few small ghosts out of a large tank and set them in front of Danny.

Danny's mind went blank. The world around him blurred into a mess of indiscernible scents, noises, and colors. The only thing he could see clearly was the rat-like ghosts in front of him. And they smelled like apple pie on a rainy day.

No longer able to control himself, he lunged forward and ripped into them. Ectoplasm squirted from his mouth as he tore them apart and devoured each one whole.

Vlad winced, he remembered being as hungry as Danny once. He knew exactly what was going to come of this. Self-hate for eating ghosts, relief from the torment of needing to eat ghosts, more self-hate for feeling relieved, dread for needing to eat more ghosts in the future. It was a disgusting, self-perpetuating cycle created by a moron trying to rip a hole between dimensions.

Danny had finished the rats off in only a few minutes. He cried out with relief from the torture of ghost hunger. He slumped over in the ectoplasm that had dripped all over him. He sobbed. And Vlad held him, rubbing his back and trying to comfort the only other one like him.

Not after long, Danny fell asleep in Vlad's arms. Vlad gently lifted him up and carried him carefully back into his room. He set him down in his bed, and pulled the covers up to his chin and tucked him in.

" Goodnight, Little Badger" he whispered as he walked out of the room