Chapter Text
Vlad leaned against the inner door of his laboratory and tried to fight back the wave of depression that threatened to overwhelm him.
Ancients, what was even the point of being a super-powered ghost billionaire when you couldn’t save the only other one of your species?
Vlad pressed his forehead against the cool metal and forced himself to breathe slowly. He could not fall apart. He could not fall apart. Not when Daniel needed him. When he still had to convince Jasmine, and ancients only knew how he would manage that when all his plotting and schemes of the year before would be working against him.
He took another deep breath then straightened and opened the door.
Three pairs of worried faces immediately swung in his direction. Daniel’s friends and family all started to talk at once then abruptly cut off. Vlad raised an eyebrow at them then abruptly realized his surgical gown and gloves were covered in Daniel’s plasma and blood.
Sugar cookies.
“He is stable,” Vlad interjected smoothly into the silence. “You may see him now.”
Tucker and Sam all but ran him over in their mad dash for the surgical area. Vlad had, fortunately, left a clone there to keep an eye on Daniel and now it kept the teens at a distance. Jasmine also went after them but not after taking a long, considering look at the viscera on Vlad’s clothes.
He allowed the group to visit together for fifteen minutes while he changed into a clean surgical outfit then abruptly chivvied them all out again.
“Miss Manson, Mr. Foley, a clone will take you back to your respective residences before you are noted missing. Jasmine will stay here.”
“We’re not going,” Sam immediately growled.
“My dear, I am afraid you can do nothing further to help him at this point and being discovered will only worsen your ability to visit him while he recovers,” Vlad returned logically.
Sam hesitated and Jazz put an arm around her.
“Go home. I’ll stay,” she promised.
“But what about you? How will you explain this to your parents?” Tucker asked.
“She and I will discuss this further after your departure,” Vlad said firmly. “Get ready to leave.”
“Why can’t we discuss it now?” Tucker demanded.
“Because Jasmine is family,” Vlad said.
“You can’t do that! Danny is our family, too!”
“But you are not mine,” Vlad said, growling now. “So you can either leave now, on your own recognizance, or I will tie you up and throw you into the Ghost Zone.”
“Okay, okay. Let’s all calm down,” Jazz said, stepping between them. “Sam, Tucker, please get your stuff together and head out with the clone.”
“But Jazz-”
“Come on, Tucker,” Sam said, grabbing the other teen’s arm and pulling him towards the exit.
“But Sam-”
“Shut up. She can tell us what he says later,” Sam hissed at her friend.
“Oh.”
Vlad waited for the door to close behind them before looking at Jasmine, the serious look on his face immediately causing a knot to form in the pit of the older teen’s stomach.
“How bad is it?” she asked.
“He can’t be saved. Not like this. Not with anything I have in my lab or your parents,” Vlad said bluntly. “There is too much damage to his core.”
Jasmine’s hands flew to her mouth.
“But,” Vlad added quickly, “there is a...chance we could find him another.”
“Another core?”
“Yes.”
“But ghosts can’t survive without a core...Vlad, no. We are not killing another ghost to get one,” Jasmine growled up at her godfather.
“I’m not suggesting we do that, my dear. Besides the fact that Daniel would likely try to commit some sort of heroic suicide once he found out, a regular core would not sync properly with his human half.”
“...are you saying it has to be another halfa core?” Jazz asked slowly.
“Yes.”
“...I’m assuming you’re not being stupid enough to suggest trying to kill someone to turn them halfa and then steal their core?” she asked again. Not entirely certain that he wasn’t that stupid.
Vlad snorted.
“No, Jasmine, I am not since that brings us to the same problem of Daniel nobly sacrificing himself when he inevitably discovers what we have done. I am suggesting that we use my core. That we simply...split it.”
“How is that not going to destroy you?”
“You are aware that I have been doing some research into the original halfas that lived thousands of years ago, yes?”
Jasmine nodded. The older halfa had been incredibly close-mouthed on what he had been learning from the few tomes he had managed to bring out of Clockworth’s tower, but occasionally he had offered to teach Danny a few of the techniques he’d learned. Danny had, even more rarely, let himself be taught. Mostly because it was one of the only real pieces of information available regarding his extremely rare ice core.
“I have discovered the ways halfas were made, originally,” Vlad began.
“Made?” Jasmine asked, immediately picking up on the important part of his discovery.
“Yes. Originally, they were made by splitting a mature halfa’s core into two. Daniel and I were…accidents. Having two of us spontaneously appear is simply...Jasmine, you have no idea how incredibly rare that was. One in a billion. A trillion even. And that’s just for one of us to be naturally created. I truly do need to look at your parents blueprints again and discover-”
“Earth to Vlad, you can mad scientist later,” Jazz said, snapping her fingers at him. “What are the risks for doing this?”
“The biggest risk is that the core doesn’t take and Daniel dies,” Vlad sighed. “But at this point, he is dying already so that’s much of a consideration at this point.”
“What about you?”
Vlad hesitated.
“It is not…without risk. But my core is over twenty years old. Old enough to manage being split but still flexible enough to regrow itself.”
Vlad was pretty sure. Mostly sure.
“Give me the numbers,” Jazz sighed, rubbing her temples as a migraine threatened to come on.
“I’d say about 40% success for Daniel.”
“And you?”
“Hovering at a steady 60% given my age and the stability of my core.”
Jazz squinted at him, thinking hard. 40% was obviously better than a 100% guaranteed death when Danny’s core died, but not...well, not anywhere near the numbers she would have liked.
Jazz took a deep breath and locked eyes with the older man.
“I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me you aren’t just doing this to control Daniel later,” Jazz said firmly.
Vlad actually laughed, disbelief clear on his face.
“My dear girl, this would not be controlling him. This is in essence shoving a knife inside my own chest and wrapping his hand around the hilt,” the older halfa said bluntly. “I...I honestly cannot believe I am willing to go through with this. It is...it is completely...well, it is unthinkable.”
Jazz gazed at him steadily, and Vlad couldn’t hold her eyes. Hah. So that was why. Despite the way he went about it, Vlad truly did think of Danny as his family. And Vlad’s core demanded he do anything for family.
“I do have a few caveats though,” the older halfa quickly added, and Jazz rolled her eyes.
Here we go. The inevitable catch.
“And they are?”
“Daniel cannot know we have done this. In his mind, this will scarcely be better than ripping out the core of any other ghost. If he begins to loathe his core, especially at the delicate stage of regrowing it, then it will fail, Jasmine. We won’t get another chance like this. Even if you pried what remained of my core out and put it inside him, it would be too weak to help him,” Vlad said seriously.
“I...think I can agree to that,” she said slowly. “At least until his core is finished growing.
“We will also not tell anyone else. And I mean anyone else. Not your family. Not Daniel’s little friends.”
“They’re his family, too, Vlad.”
“And if this gets out, Daniel will be in even more danger from those who want to create more like us,” Vlad growled. “To keep that possibility as low as possible, this stays between the two of us. Forever.”
Jazz considered his words then nodded slowly. He was right. This could change…probably a lot. It was better not to spread the knowledge anywhere. In fact…
“Why are you telling me this?” she asked Vlad slowly. “You could have spun this as you having an option to repair his core and left it vague. None of us would have known any better.”
Vlad couldn’t help the proud smile that spread over his face. Jasmine’s mind truly was exquisite. Even when it was often to his own disadvantage.
“You are correct, Jasmine. The problem is that I will need your help to extract both cores. I could certainly kill you afterwards, to ensure the secret stays hidden. It would certainly be the smartest option. But I...I cannot do that. My core won’t allow it.”
Jazz’s eyes widened. Vlad had always been so focused on Danny that she had always assumed, well, that his obsession never included her. Or maybe it had changed to include her since Vlad had been slowly but surely phasing their mom out of his obsession. Was there a limit he had to work with? Was this a halfa thing or a core thing or a Vlad thing? The research she could do-
“As you so aptly said, Jasmine, this is no time to play mad scientist,” the older halfa said, clearly amused as he watched her thoughts spin.
“I’m not a mad scientist,” Jazz growled.
Vlad only cocked an eyebrow at her and let it go.
“So, what is your decision? Shall we try to save Daniel?”
Jazz closed her eyes and breathed deeply, fingers digging into the fabric of her shirt. She had to make this decision. A decision her parents should have been making. But now it was just her and a crazy fruitloop of a man here to save Danny and-
She startled as she felt Vlad’s hand on her shoulder.
“Breathe,” he said, not unkindly.
Jazz took a few more steadying breaths, and Vlad let his hand drop away again.
“Let’s do it,” Jazz said, opening her eyes to meet his gaze firmly.
“I have a few contingencies I have to set up for my absence, but we should be able to start in two hours,” Vlad informed, already moving away. “Try to get some rest if you can before then.”
He phased up through the ceiling, leaving Jazz alone in the basement. She shook her head and headed deeper inside the lab. She wouldn’t be able to sleep a wink even tired as she was. Instead, she found a stool and settled it beside her brother, taking his hand.
“It’s okay, Danny. We’ll save you,” she promised softly. “Just hang on a little longer.”