#Pretty much result in Vlad being fast enough and strong enough to do all the Ghost control on his own

[ecto-stone]

What Your Is Mine. FFOS Edition :)

[bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture]

Yeah, forget side content, just gonna steam on ahead with the Sports Festival and onwards. I might not actually stop and start trying to do overarching plot stuff until ~chapter 100 (more specifically, post ch 97, the last chapter of the Kamino Arc) because then there will be enough material to actually like. Do stuff. Might also have something smaller after the Sports Festival since that’s ~chapter 50. Shrugs.

Anyways, onwards. Don’t you miss the days when the main trio of the series was Izuku, Tenya, and Ochako? Man, don’t I. :(

[No. 22 - That’s the Idea, Ochako!]

Character sheet! I am honestly laughing super hard at everything because just. ‘Very Ochako.’ Thank you, Horikoshi. A few things about the sheet:

1) god I love that her fingerpads are called soft. Like. Actual cat paw pad fingers going on here. just imagine if you like pressed one of them like you do with cat paw pads and like, she had cat claws that would extend. cute but also menacing.

2) strong legs. leg day squad. her, izuku, and iida all doing leg day workouts together tho... katsuki wishes he had the leg strength of those three y'all

3) That quirk description… that’s not quite how centrifugal forces work, but I mean. Superhero comic physics. At least he made an attempt at explaining her quirk. 

Anyways, onto the actual chapter.

We open up in a staff meeting in a conference room at UA, with Tsukauchi presenting the results of the police investigations. He states that the one called Shigaraki has a quirk that allows him to disintegrate anything he touches. They (the police) have been through the list of men in their twenties and thirties in the quirk registry with no luck - and nothing turned up on the ‘warp gate’ user Kurogiri either. With neither registered, both using aliases, and no quirk records, they’re pretty much confirmed to be members of the underworld.

God sorry, I’m just distracted with the sheer size difference between Toshinori and Nedzu here.

What the fuck. Why did you put the largest person in the room next to the smallest?

Whatever. Snipe surmises that they know next to nothing, but they need to learn fast, or the leader of the villains, Shigaraki, will heal up and be back again. Toshinori is thoughtful as he mulls over the use of ‘leader’, which Nedzu catches quickly and inquires into. Probably still heavily banking on Toshinori’s instincts here since he was technically right about his bad feeling about the USJ just two days before.

I mean, how it has to sting Nedzu that all his state of the art systems meant to keep out intruders and alert UA to situations on campus failed at the critical moment, while Toshinori’s instincts on something being wrong had been absolutely on point and, if Nedzu had let him go, might have solved the situation that much sooner.

(I mean, there’s arguments for what could have happened if All Might did arrive early, so. Shrugs.)

And so we get into the segment I like to fondly consider a prime example of the fact that yes, Toshinori does in fact have a 6/6 intelligence score for a reason. 

He brings up how nothing about the situation feels normal. It was an especially daring attack - and not just in the meticulous planning! Shigaraki had started going on about some ridiculous ideology… and though he didn’t say anything about his own quirk, he couldn’t keep himself from bragging about the nomu’s quirk. And when things didn’t go his way? He threw a tantrum. Toshinori then admits with grit teeth and clenched fist that the business about quirks was meant to provoke him, and that it did hurt.

Nedzu says that even so, it’s foolish for villains to reveal quirks in a battle against heroes and so waste the element of surprise. 

Toshinori surmises his previous observations about Shigaraki - spouting a plausible yet deluded ideology, bragging about the toy he brought along, simple-mindedly assuming all would go his way. If they thought about how the attack was carried out, it seems clear that Shigaraki couldn’t hide his childish nature, the sense that he does what he wants, and then flat-out calls him a man-child.

Vlad King sums up Toshinori’s words as Shigaraki being a kid with too much power. Midnight adds on how Shigaraki might never have received general quirk counseling in elementary school; Vlad wonders whether that even matters. 

Tsukauchi steps back into the conversation to give the rest of the arrest results - a total of 72 villains were apprehended at the USJ. He states that all of them were just back-alley thugs, but the question is why so many of them would agree to follow this ‘man-child.’ He points out that modern society is saturated with heroes, so small-time villains like them, who always get kicked around, might have been drawn in by that sort of pure, unaffected evil. 

Toshinori having a flashback here, though his expression… I wonder if he’s having doubts already. And honestly, that flashback bit has me wonder just how common ‘uncontrollable’ quirks really are… and what COUNTS as ‘uncontrollable’ in their society. 

To avoid a longer derail, Tsukauchi finishes up by saying that thanks to the heroes, the police can focus on their investigation. They’ll expand their search and devote efforts to apprehending the perpetrators. 

Nedzu finishes out the scene by musing over the use of ‘man-child,’ stating that in one way, Shigaraki is a lot like their students. He has potential to grow, if only he had a proper mentor to follow. It’s difficult to think about these things.

And so we shift scenes back over to 1a. I doubt this sports festival talk is happening at the same time as the staff meeting, if only because Aizawa should have been at said staff meeting. Or maybe he wasn’t supposed to be there at all and the homerooms were meant to handle themselves that morning? Wait, hold on-

That clock reads 8:25. This is happening during the homeroom period, which means that the other classes are having independant homeroom. Which also means it’s no surprise that Aizawa isn’t at that meeting, because he’s busy hobbling to his class to announce the sports festival. He probably had to be caught up on the meeting stuff later. 

Anyways. The class is surprised over the announcement of the sports festival, someone calling it ‘totally ordinary’ while another (I think Mineta) questions whether Aizawa’s sure about this, since they just had that villain attack. Aizawa states that it’s necessary to demonstrate that UA’s crisis management protocols are sound - or that’s the thinking, anyways. There will be five times the police presence of previous years. Oh, and also the sports festival is the greatest opportunity the class will get. It’s not something that can be cancelled over a few villains. 

Mineta (again?) asks if he’s sure about that, muttering about how it’s ‘just a stupid sports festival.’ Izuku seems completely horrified at the idea that Mineta might have never seen UA’s sports festival, which Mineta hastens to correct - he has, that’s not what he meant. 

I’m sorry just. That face. I can’t with this kid. Jdsjlgkd.

Also, we finally get to the page that had me double-take when I got to it because, well.

So yeah, apparently the BNHA timeline didn’t have certain current events happened that would force the cancellation of the Olympics. (I mean, obviously Hori had no way of knowing the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo would be cancelled, but it’s still like a huge sign of how long this series has been running that this is here.)

Moving on, basically the above surmises for readers that the sports festival is as big an event to them as the Olympics are to us. So basically, super hype. Momo notes that all the nation’s top heroes will be watching and scouting. Kaminari adds on how the heroes will be looking to hire the hero students as sidekicks after they graduate. Jirou makes a cutting retort how a lot of those sidekicks never manage to go solo, stuck as sidekicks forever, before telling Kaminari that’ll be him. 

Shot through the heart.

(Also a total aside I just realized: current manga events likely mean there will be no sports festival for 2a. I mean, I would say the events happening there are large enough in scope that UA just doesn’t have the inclination or interest in broadcasting vital information the villains could use. And like, no scouting, no internships, no purpose for it.

And I mean, even if they did, would any of the kids even be able to focus on doing their best? God knows how stressed and nervous they all must be with how society is basically collapsing outside the school.)

Aizawa tells the class that they’ll gain valuable experience and popularity if they’re picked up by a big-name hero. However, their time is limited. They need to show the pros what they’re made of to make futures for themselves. This happens once a year, so they have three shots. If they want to be heroes, this is an event they can’t miss.

The whole class seems to be taking this seriously, but Izuku…

Well, he doesn’t seem as enthused as expected.

Anyways, I’ll cut it there and leave the rest for next time, since there’s a time break in here anyways. It’s not quite halfway, but eh.

[cantcomeupwithacreativename]

The Experiment Chapter 4

(Bro the spaces are even weirder on here)

On my way back to our alley, I overheard a conversation between a mother and a pro-hero. He is black with locks all over his costume. The mother has a small child in her arms. He looks about 5 years old. The mother is sobbing, and the child looks terrified, with red eyes, like he had been crying.

"Thank you so much… I- I can't ever repay you. I thought I would never see my baby again… nobody else cared… he was gone for so long… a month… they- they said he'd most likely be dead after a week. They… they wouldn't look anymore. "

"It's all right. I can't imagine if that was my little one. There aren't enough heroes who understand." His deep voice rang through my ears.

"How-how old are they?"

"Just over a week now. I gotta go. Be safe, keep him close."

I started to think, what would've happened if that hero wasn't there, if he didn't find him. Would the kid be sold? Experimented on? Obviously they didn't plan on killing him, or they wouldn't have kept him alive for over a month.

This led me to think about how many people are missing right now, with no heroes to find them. There aren't enough heroes in this world. Maybe Kei could be a hero. She would be good at it. She caught those freaks so easily.

I think of this all the way home. How Kei would be a good hero. On my way back, I hear a muffled cry. My head snaps to attention. Two figures are in a dark alley, one tall, with broad shoulders, and the other small, feminine, and young.

"Don't scream." His voice sounds disgusting.

A young girl, younger than me, looks terrified under his gross hands.

I creep behind him. He doesn't see me. I smash the back of his head with my wings. He falls to the ground, unconscious. The girl took one look at my scarred body and sprints away. She probably thinks I'm another villain.

I had a weird, happy feeling in my stomach, and I didn't realize the smile creeping on my face. It felt good to help people. Is this what heroes save for? This feeling? I liked it. Maybe I could be a hero.

I left the alley after wiping the smile off my face.

After I got back to Kei, I went to bed.

In the morning, I talked to Kei.

"I was thinking… what if we became heroes?"

She looked at me to see if I was serious, then burst into laughter.

"I don't want to be a hero!"

Oh. I didn't say anything after that. She noticed my silence and added,

"But you'd be a good hero. You could always just try for a school. and see if you like it. I heard U.A. is free, so long as you pass the entrance exam."

I thought it over. Maybe. I'd have to train really hard. I heard it's extremely hard to get into. Plus, you have to be smart. Maybe I could start working out and ask Kei to teach me. I never bothered before, I just didn't care. I remember those workouts that one winged guy taught me. What was his name? Keilo?

"Hey Kei?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you teach me school stuff?"

Her eyes lit up. "Sure!"

(Time skip: a week later)

My wing muscles are burning from the workouts I've been doing. I can lift myself off the ground now. I've been following the workouts that boy gave me. Thank god for Kei. When I need water, she's there, a fresh shower after every workout. She's been an amazing teacher, and I was a fast learner. My favorite was (favorite subject)

There was one thing that I didn't understand about Kei. Why did she live on the streets? She was smart, pretty, and had a strong quirk. I just could figure it out. It had never been brought up, and she had never told me.

"Hey, Kei? Why do you not have a house?"

She was silent for a moment, and then said,

"I was kicked out."

"Why?"

"My… my…. parents found out I had a girlfriend. They saw us kissing."

"Oh. I'm sorry… "

"No need to be sorry, it's not your fault." She said, faking a smile

(Time skip: Halfway through U.A. entrance exam)

I fly up to the 3 point robot, stabbing it with my feather-blades. That's 27 points! I just repeated that with all robots I saw, the ones that weren’t already being fought, that is.

(Feather blades look like this. You can harden your feathers/wings and shoot them out. [Like angel from X Men apocalypse])

(Time skip: After exam)

I don't have an address, duh, so I just put down a house a couple miles away from the alley. I hope I get in! I also put a fake name on my papers, for good measure. I don’t think any paperwork was done on me in the first place, or any records anyway, but better safe than sorry. After a while of deliberating, I end up with the name Y/N F/L/N. (fake last name, your real L/N will come in later)

The results are supposed to arrive this week, and I am currently at the house that I claimed I lived. As I open the mailbox I see 3 white envelopes. One addressed to a girl named Kyoka Jiro, which was coincidentally, also from U.A. the second looked like bills of some sort, and the third was addressed to Y/N F/L/N, from the U.A. hero course! I sprinted as fast as I could away from there, letter in hand, missing the pair of black eyes watching me from the window.

When I met up with Kei, we opened the letter together, and a hologram of Allmight appeared.

“Greetings Young F/L/N! I Am Here! To Welcome You! You passed the written exam, and the practical exam with a score of 31 points! Welcome to the hero course. You will be starting your long journey to the road of Heroism in class 1-B. School starts on…..”

Kei shrieks, cutting him off.

“YOU MADE IT IN! I’M SO PROUD OF YOU,” I open my mouth to say thanks, but she cuts me off, “HONESTLY, I DIDN'T THINK YOU COULD DO IT!”

“Uh, thanks?”

(Sorry for another skip, but nothing plot relevant happens between so, Timeskip: morning of 1st day of school)

First day of school! I’ve never been to school before! Kei says it’s nothing too special. I have to take a shower before I go, and we washed the clothes last night. Washing clothes is a weird process. We have to use this huge bottle of clothes soap that we rub in with our hands, and use Kei’s quirk to wet and rinse the clothes. Then we just leave them out to dry, or if we’re in a rush, use my wings. It takes a while, and we don’t need to impress anybody, so washing clothes is a rare occasion. Taking a shower is also a rare occasion, but I have a feeling it’s going to have to be less rare because of school. Kei got me deodorant the other day! It may not seem big, but that classifies as a ‘non-necessity’ so I’ve never gotten it before.

After my shower, I got dressed and I stretched my wings. Nowadays, I keep them out at all times, because, protection, the look, and they hurt to put back. They tuck nicely against my back so that I don’t hit much with them. I begin the long trek to school. It takes f o r e v e r.

Once I finally arrive at the infamous school, I spot a familiar face, or rather, hair. It’s the kid from the sludge villain attack, the one who all the heroes were chewing out. I was going to say hi, but decided not to, because it would be awkward if he didn’t recognize me.

On my way in, I notice more than a few people staring at me, mostly my scars. Whatever. I’ve never been self conscious about them, why start, you know? F you. I’d rather have a few scars than no arms at all…

Ok, class 1-B should be around here- Holy s h i t this door was huge! Are there giants here? Do I just go in? My lack of experience is really showing. I push the door open and glance around the room. Oh. Oh shit. They all have uniforms. I’m the only one not wearing one. I don’t know what to do, so I just walk in. Maybe the uniforms are optional. I pick a random seat, near the (back, middle, front) and sit. I end up next to a kid with pitch black skin and white hair. He doesn’t say a word. Good. I don’t want to talk. Unfortunately, the other girls don’t seem to understand this, and they bombard me with questions.

“What’s your name?”

“How’d you get those scars? Are they part of your quirk?”

“What’s your quirk?”

“Who’s your favorite hero?”

“Do you want to be my friend?”

“What are you named?”

That last one came from a girl with big, American eyes. She looks nice.

“I’m Y/N, What’s your name?” I tell/ask her.

“My name is Pony. I’m from America.” She says.

“Cool.”

To the rest of the group I say, “My name is Y/N, my quirk is Raven, my favorite hero is Midnight, and sure I’ll be your friend.”

They continued chattering until the teacher, a big burly guy with pointy bottom teeth and a glare, walked into the room and took us to ’orientation.’ During the assembly, Allmight gave us a speech about what fine young heroes we would become, and to do our best, Plus Ultra style! Then we spent the rest of the day learning where things were, the teachers, what we would need to bring, but most importantly, each other. Apparently, Vlad King thinks that socializing and making connections is extremely important for people our age. He gave us 15 minutes of free time to just talk before moving on with the tour.

The teachers called us out for a lunch break, and the food smells so good. I glance around the room, and, of course, there aren’t many seats open. The only one I see is an almost empty table, save for a kid with Half red half white hair and a scar on his eye. Looks almost like mine, but it doesn’t look like fire caused it. More like frostbite.

My feet are moving before I make my decision. It was like they knew.

“Hi! I’m from class 1-B, can I sit here?” I ask

He looks me in the eyes and says,

“No.”

“Oh. Uh ok…”

“You may sit over here if you please.” A feminine voice calls out. I turn to see, and it’s a really cute girl with a ponytail. She is tall, with black hair.

“Ok thanks!” I say, as I make my way over to her.

We ended up chatting for a while. Apparently, she is in class 1A, wants to become a hero to give back to the people less fortunate than her. Aka: a richy rich girl. I think we’ll be good friends. She even made me a uniform!

And my g o d Lunch rush is amazing. I haven’t had anything this good ever. To be fair, my standards are pretty low, but it was still amazing.

On my way back to the classroom, I see Pony being cornered by 2 guys and a girl.

“Stupid American! You don’t even know proper Japanese! Go back to where you came from”

I don’t think she completely understands what they’re saying. Naturally, I do what I would’ve done if I saw Kei being cornered. I walked right behind them, shouted at them, and punched the first one to turn around. It made a delightful cracking noise, as my fist made direct contact with her nose. Blood running down her face, staining her uniform.

“Bitch!” She shouted at me as her fist swung towards my side. I took a step back, and missed her ‘punch’ completely. One of the guys got into a defensive stance in front of the bitch, and the other stepped forward and tried to hit me. I simply hardened my wings around me, and his weak hit did nothing.

As I raised my fist to punch the bastard, I felt my wings soften back to normal and a string thing wrap around me. I stared directly into red eyes.

"What the hell are you doing?"

[balshumetsbaragouin]

Beloved: Chapter Four

Summary:

Music, transformations, and attachments...

His Name is Daniel

Vlad finished up the last of his business calls and glanced at the clock on his study desk. Barely after 8am, and it already feels like it’s time for bed. He stretched in muted fatigue before standing from behind the furniture piece and heading for the door. He’d promised to only be a few minutes, and more importantly after the melting scare a couple hours back, he didn’t want to leave the clone alone for too long. So even though he could find more work to do, the CEO of Dalvco headed back towards the colorfully decorated room the clone was likely still bouncing off the walls in. He passed a few painting on the way, and it reminded him of the amazing improvements the young child had made in barely a three day period. It gave him a few ideas. If I can expose him to some more of the arts, I wonder if he’d pick up on them as easily and quickly as he has drawing? He mused while walking back to the clone’s room. It was only a few doors down from his own set of rooms, for ease of access. He paused in front of his bedroom door, thinking about a collection of books and music he could test his theories about the clone with. Vlad frowned thoughtfully before plunging into the bedroom after the needed items.

This is great! Everything is so bright and soft, and it’s so quiet I can hear…what is that? D27 thought while wandering over to the set of bay windows overlooking the western side of the mansion.

Outside was a large Elm tree. Its strong interwoven branches were bursting with the golden wreaths of dying leaves. On the branches closest to the balcony, in a small blue jays’ nest still intact from the summer nesting season, was a chubby bird calling into the mild fall air.

D27 gasped as he caught sight of the lapis creature set against the bright yellow background of the elm leaves. He backed away slowly, not wanting to spook the bird when it was making such an inviting picture. The remainder of his sketch supplies were just on the table in the middle of the room, and the image the bird was presenting was too good to miss. He tip-toed back to the window, determined to memorize every detail so that he could re-make it on the paper in his hands. He pressed himself as close to the glass as he would dare, breath frosting the cooler windows as he absorbed every detail of the scene with his mind’s eye. There was no way the bird wouldn’t fly off before he could draw it, so it was best to memorize now.

Vlad leaned against the door frame of the room, amused beyond reason at the clone’s antics. Between his exaggerated attempts at stealth, and his childish wonder, silently watching D27 reminded him of all the reasons he’d wanted children in the first place. He wavered between interrupting the clone, he did want to test a few theories, and just watching him work, it was rather entertaining after all. In the end, his greater curiosity about the learning ability of the clone won over the entertainment value of watching him sneak around the room. “D27?” the older man called.

He turned away from the chirping creature just outside the window when he heard his Daddy call. D27 smiled over from his position at the window before glancing back towards the bird’s nest. “Shush Daddy, you’ll scare it.” He replied from his perch by the balcony doors.

“Oh?” Vlad asked while crossing the room to stand next to the engrossed child. The blue jay called louder through the window; drawing his attention. He couldn’t stop the small smile working its way across his face at the sight of the bird’s nest. He glanced down at the boy practically pressing his face against the glass in excitement. A warm tingle Vlad recognized as affection spread through his chest. Just then, an idea hit him and the older halfa reached forward and turned the handle for the balcony windows. “Come on. Why don’t we get a closer look?” He offered while stepping onto the balcony proper.

“Buh, Daddy, it’ll fly away.” D27 grabbed onto the cuff of his jacket and tugged gently, not wanting frighten the bird.

“Oh no he won’t, this bird is very friendly.” Vlad replied, walking closer to the edge of the balcony. He remembered the animal living in the nest very well. It was practically hand feed by his staff, all of them thinking it was adorable since it was a chick. The result was, the blue jay was very people friendly, so he was sure it wouldn’t so much as budge. Well it would if we offered it food. He sauntered up to the edge, right next to the molded white railing and guided the clone out from behind him. Just as he supposed, the bird hadn’t done much but chirp and look in their direction, too convinced another large feeding was on the way.

Eyes wide and breath short, D27 stood on the tips of his toes, just a few feet from the little blue bird he’d been watching from the other side of the window. He felt a wide smile split his face from ear to ear, growing more excited every second the bird didn’t fly away. Suddenly, he remembered the sketch pad in his hands, and the reason for walking this close flashed into the front of his mind. Gingerly, he retreated from his spot right next to the railing, just far enough away to be able to use his black sketch maker. After getting the paper into the proper position, he tiptoed back to the railing, placing his paper on top of it for stability. D27 held his breath as started the first strokes for the rough drawing of the bird. As he leaned against the railing, he didn’t notice his hands phasing out of tangibility…

Leaning against the railing a few feet from the clone, Vlad was enjoying the fast warming autumn air. While he had wanted to see how fast the clone could absorb entirely new types of information, just watching him draw was suddenly more appealing. He passed D27 a side-long glance when he felt a small amount of ghost energy coming from his direction. The clone’s core still turned on at seemingly random times, so sensing even a small amount of energy was always surprising. The elder hybrid caught the sight of his hands disappearing through the railing at the last moment. “D27!” He cried. Vlad watched as the clone looked towards him, startled by his call just before his hands slipped through the rails and he flipped over the edge of the balcony.

  Vlad only had a few tenths of a second to respond and catch him before he slammed into ground below. His reaction was instantaneous. Transforming, and teleporting only a wire thin moment afterwards, he reappeared just inches under D27, with just a split second to grasp him before crashing into the deck below himself.

The majority of the energy had been absorbed by Vlad’s body or turned into sound. The hardwood floor of the deck dented and cracked slightly with the impact, depressing a few inches lower, the wood otherwise intact.

He wasn’t sure what had happened. One minute he’d been standing on the edge of the balcony sketching the pretty blue bird and the next, he was looking up at the sky, strong arms holding him tightly. D27 heard a sigh from behind him, and he wriggled around to see who was holding him. “Daddy?”

That had been too close for comfort. While a fall from this height wouldn’t have killed the clone, he would have definitely been hurt. That would have pushed his core to make more energy to replace the amount being used to heal him, and that would have likely resulted in another melting episode, and Vlad had dealt with enough of those for one day. Never mind the thought that D27 could get hurt was sending tendrils of terror streaking through his core, he wasn’t ready to confront his growing affection as of yet. Vlad shifted the clone away from his chest when he heard him say his name. “D27, are you alright?”

“I think so.” He responded head swiveling around to take in his new surroundings. “What happen?”

“What happened is you fell off of the balcony.” Vlad explained while standing from the dent in his deck. “Your hands turned intangible, and you flipped right over the edge. Luckily, I caught you, and are you sure you’re fine?” He held the D27 out at arm length giving him a once over. He doesn’t even appear to be bruised…which is more than what I can say for my back.

“I’m sure Daddy.” D27 answered while attempting to wiggle his way back to the ground below. He smiled and bounced off a few feet when his feet touched the decks’ surface, trying to get a good look at where he had fallen. He leaned back, just getting sight of the railing where the balcony was when he heard his Daddy groan. “Are you ok?” He piped up worriedly, watching his Daddy rubbing circles along the lower part of his back.

“Just fine D27,” Vlad started suppressing another groan, “but maybe we should go back inside?” Where there are chairs I can rest my sore back in for one…He transformed back into human form before stalking over to the foyer doors leading to the deck. The billionaire passed an expectant glance over his shoulder as he crossed the threshold, beckoning the young clone back inside.

With only a small look spared for the colorful inviting view outside, D27 rushed back inside after his Daddy. He felt a little squiggle of butterflies in his tummy. He hadn’t been to this part of the house before; in fact he rarely left the upstairs section or the lab, other than that one time he’d wandered off. Little D walked up to his Daddy and reached up and grasped his larger hand. “Where are we?” he asked eyes darting to and fro; taking in the new décor of every space.

“The western part of the mansion. I don’t think you’ve been down here before…” and now that I think about it, the nearest drawing room with comfortable chairs is way too far away for my taste. Vlad realized as a tug drew him to a stop. “What is it?” And can’t it wait until after we find a chair?

“What’s in there?” He carefully pointed to the only room they’d passed so far that was closed. It wasn’t an uncommon sight, most of the rooms upstairs had closed doors if he remembered correctly, but since they hadn’t passed any closed doors before, this one had piqued his interest.

“Oh? I believe that’s my video-audio repository; it’s where- hold on a moment!”

Too excited to really wait for an answer, what’s a video-audio repository anyway? , D27 rushed over to the door and turned the handle. He was rewarded with a soft squeak as the well oiled hinges of the door worked to open it. He nearly raced inside; he didn’t get to explore much of anything often, and stopped dead in the center of the room. On one wall facing directly ahead was an enormous bookcase, or it seemed similar to one in his opinion. Instead of books, like there were in his Daddy’s study, it was covered in a combination of thick and slim black rectangles. It also was much larger than any bookcase he’d ever seen, reaching from ceiling, way taller than even his Daddy, to the floor. Intrigued, D27 stalked forward to peer at the items sitting on the shelf. He reached forward and grabbed one of the shiny black things on the bookcase. “What’s it?”

“Articulate,” Vlad noted with a slight roll of his eyes. “That is a case for a DVDs, CDs, VHS tapes and the like.”

“Yeah, but what’s it?” D27 repeated. I know what a bookshelf is Daddy…Sometimes his Daddy acted like he was still a baby.

“I-Oh, they hold recordings, you do know what recordings are right,” Vlad paused until after the clone nodded, “of music and movies, pictures and sound. You know it would be much easier to explain things to you if you were more specific.” He gazed down at the very inattentive looking boy rummaging through the cases in front of him.

“So if they have moosac and stuff inside them, how do you get it out?” He picked up a slim black container and shook it up and down, hoping it would do something.

“Music, D27, and you have to place the item inside something that can read the disk.” The older halfa reached down and plucked the case from the clone’s hands. He opened the CD case with a click and placed the shiny golden disk into the boy’s hand. “Now this is a recording of music, Vivaldi to be precise. You can play CDs in a multitude of devices, but in this case, if you’d like to listen to it, you can put it inside the multimedia player over there.” Vlad turned and pointed to a series of speakers to the left of the large shelf. “Now there’s more th-wait a second!” Before he could even finish his sentence, the easily excitable child had rushed across the room, CD in hand. Oh why did I even bother asking him to slow down? He caught up with the rambunctious clone just as he was trying to shove the CD unceremoniously into the player in the wrong slot. “Stop that.” He commanded in a moderately stern tone. The last thing he needed the boy to do was break an expensive piece of equipment.

D27 did as he was asked before turning to look up in his Daddy’s direction. “I thought you said it went in the player thingy.” He really wanted to hear some music, whatever that is, and the player wouldn’t work.

“It does,” Vlad held up his hand before the boy could make more protests, “but just not in that section. It plays more than one type of disk, and you are currently trying to shove it in the section for DVDs, which is why it keeps spitting it back out. Now,” he quickly grabbed the CD out of the younger halfa’s hand before he could get anymore half-formed ideas, “this goes in here, and then it’ll play the first recorded song.”

The CD disappeared into the proper slot and came to life only moments after it was placed inside. The first singing notes of Spring filled the room as the violin strings played through the opening stanzas.

It had to be the prettiest thing he’d ever heard in his entire life. Prettier than the sunset last night looked, prettier than the sound of the bird I was going to sketch a little bit ago, prettier than…than…um anything ever. He concluded after the first phrase repeated itself softer than the start of the song. “That’s bootiful!” D27 muttered in an awe filled voice.

“Beautiful,” Vlad corrected gently before starting to hum along, “and yes I agree. However,” Vlad watched as D27’s playful attempts at dancing on beat paused as the CD changed songs, “there are more than just CDs here. In fact, I think you’d enjoy movies much more.”

“What’s a movie?” D27 asked face scrunched up in confusion.

Vlad smiled as he guided the younger halfa to another shelf of media. “I think it would be much easier to show you.” He leaned over to the boy’s level before saying, “why don’t you pick one out?”

“But there are so many!” D27’s wide eyes swept over the section of the case with the movies in indecision. He wanted his first movie to be a good one.

“Just pick one from the children’s section and come along. We aren’t even supposed to be doing this; I wanted to go over some things with you before lunch.” Vlad glanced down at his watch, noting that it was nearly 10am. We’ve wasted over an hour between this and the balcony antics earlier. If we don’t hurry, I’ll end up having to take some business calls.

D27 stuck out his tongue as he pondered over his selection. He couldn’t tell what they were about just by reading the titles, but he didn’t have time to read the backs! With another moment spared for wavering between two titles, he scoped up the case with the picture of a dog and cat on the front and rushed for the door.

“Well hold on a minute; we don’t have to go that quickly.” The older halfa protested after the clone made for the exit at lightning speed. And now I know why parents have small children on leashes in public. He thought with wry amusement.

A few minutes and much chasing later, the two of them were back to Little D’s new bedroom; Vlad vowing to invent a halfa proof leash or some other kind of restraint, running through walls indeed, and D27 continuing to excitedly bounce around the still novel area.

“Alright! Sugar cookies child; would you please sit still for just a moment?”

He immediately stopped bouncing on the bed and flopped to the floor in front of it, the picture of serious attentiveness. His sudden demeanor change from hyperactive to the hallmark of staid almost inspired laughter from his father.

Well if I had known it was that easy…Vlad shook his head and finally took a look at the video the clone had chosen. “Ah Disney, an excellent choice.” Or so everyone under 12 who visits seems to think. He couldn’t suppress the warm smile working its way across his face at the boy’s delighted grin and added effort at sitting still. He looked over the case once more and found that other than the prominent Disney label, there was nothing remotely familiar about the contents. Though I suppose that’s not too surprising. He concluded after a moment before looking back up at D27.

His formerly controlled wiggles were becoming full-fledged bounces once again. Come on Daddy…I want to watch the movie…

The older halfa decided to spare the child any more waiting. “Now I’m going to put this in, so you might want to sit over there…” Vlad trailed off as Little D shot up like a rocket from his spot in front of the bed in favor the one he suggested closer to the television coming from behind a panel in the wall. “Yes well,” he quickly recovered, “just watch the screen.” Without further ado, he placed the DVD into the player and walked over to a nice spot behind D27 where he could watch both the movie and the clone in peace.

All of the little boy’s impatient movement ceased as soon as the screen came to life. He’d never seen light and sound like the stuff flowing across the television, and between the colorful moving pictures and the delightful music he was totally hooked.

The opening credits had an entirely different effect on the person standing behind D27. From the first cloying notes of the movie, Vlad suddenly recalled why he hated Disney movies. Terrible music set to childish cartoons. He rolled his eyes as the “unfortunate” main character cat was rained on in his abandoned box to the point of being washed away. Just then, he felt his cell phone vibrate. Cynthia…suppose she would be in by now.” He pressed his lips into a hard line in indecision before glancing over at the room’s other occupant. Utterly engrossed. He concluded after only a moment. I’m sure he won’t miss me one bit. Vlad justified already half-way to the door.

He really couldn’t believe it. This was way better than CDs. Daddy was right. Of course his is, because he knows everything. The orange cat on the screen, Oliver he remembered, ran into a white dog that sang. Best thing ever. He thought as the song concluded and the colorful assortment of moving pictures changed to a building by the water.

D27 jumped up excitedly from the floor when the movie ended. He just had to watch it again. He stood in front of the television for a few moments before realizing he had no idea how to work it. The little clone felt a frown come across his face as he pondered the puzzle of getting the movie to play again before turning around to just ask Daddy to do it for him. He’s probably just waiting for me to ask anyway. D27 blinked as he took in the empty room.

He hadn’t been expecting that. Sure his Daddy was busy, but he had promised to…Well not exactly. He promised to be right back, and he was. He never said he would stay. All the same, sometimes he wished he was the most important thing on his Daddy’s busy list of things to do. D27 frowned as he took one last look at the empty room before coming to a decision. He’d just go find his Daddy and ask him how to fix the movie thing himself. With his plan of attack in mind, he stomped away from his new bedroom determined to find his father and make him pay attention long enough to answer his question. From his experience, holding his attention was a challenge in and of itself.

Half way to where he was sure his Daddy’s study had to be, he’d searched three different directions already, he spotted something interesting. D27 had passed by more than one open door on the way to his destination, and he’d seen rooms like this before, honestly they all looked the same to him, but this time what it held was actually more intriguing than his personal mission to track down his father. Is that, the um, music making thing from the movie? D27 walked into the room staring at the large black object on the far wall. He skipped up to the bench in front of it and peered over the top at the keys. After a few moments of inspection, a large grin split his face from ear to ear. He started to clamber to the top of the bench when he suddenly stopped and nervously glanced back at the open door. Well, I know I’m not supposed to touch stuff without asking, but it won’t hurt it just to play with it a little. He banished the worries of getting in trouble from his mind, and finished climbing to the top of the bench.

D27 took a moment to steady himself on the large cool bench, before reaching out as far as he could and resting his hands on the white and black keys. He gingerly pressed down on a white key, only to jump back with a sound came from the instrument in front of him. Now even more excited, he began trying random keys all over the place wherever he could reach. He giggled when he hit two keys that created some dissonance. “This is so fun! Hm, I wonder if I…”

“So you’re telling me, that once you actually got into the nuts and bolts of the acquisition they completely made an about face? Just what did they think we were agreeing to? Being best friends forever?” Vlad paused as Cynthia on the other side responded. “Well I hope you told them we’d be going through with the buy out whether their board liked it or not. We already have a controlling interest in the company, this was just a formality. Mmm, yes! Of course I know this won’t be the best for the new, less overtly aggressive, image we were trying to cultivate, but I don’t care! I’ve played nice with Axiom as long as I care to, now do-Jumping Juniper Berry Muffins! - Oh not you Cynthia, it’s just, could I call you back? I need to take care of something,” Vlad said while standing up stiffly from his chair behind his study desk. Another loud cacophonous clang came from somewhere in the house, as he pushed in the chair and walked briskly towards the door. “What? No, I promise I’ll call you, it should only take a minute or two, but it needs my full attention. Thanks.” He frowned as the sounds only picked up in regularity.

Shutting the door behind him, Vlad stalked out of his study and towards the increasingly loud and unbearably dissonant sounds. His mouth quirked into a thin line as he stood, finally, in front of the room where the noise was originating. The clamor was nearly deafening to his sensitive ghost hearing, and he had one guess who was the cause of it. “D27,” Vlad said before he’d even set foot inside the room, “stop that this instant!”

D27 gasped from his spot on the bench in front of the piano. “Daddy?” He’d been having so much fun; he’d forgotten all about finding him in the first place.

“That piano is rather expensive, and you banging on it like that is going to throw it out of tune.” He responded, an angry glower having settled upon his features. He watched as the clone shrunk on the bench in front of the grand piano, the boy’s face a mixture of sadness and frustration. Just as quickly as his anger had come, it left. It wasn’t the clone’s fault he got easily distracted and wandered off, nor that he didn’t know how to actually treat an expensive piece like that Steinway B. With a sigh, he released the last of his anger and asked, “What were you trying to play?”

“Um…” He hadn’t been trying to play anything! Well nothing specific anyway, he’d just been hitting keys. He fidgeted under his Daddy’s expectant gaze before shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, would you like to learn how to play something?” Vlad offered with a small smile on his face. He slipped besides the antsy clone and breezily settled his hands onto the keys.  It had been a while since he’d played anything, but rusty or not, he was still good enough to give the boy a quick lesson. And finally test that theory about how fast he learns…

“I’d lo-oh you know how to play Daddy?” D27 switched words mid-sentence, from accepting the offer to asking a question.

“I do. I learned when I was a child, as many children do, and played for several years before I left for college.” Vlad experimentally played a few chords, warming up his hands. “I stopped playing after that though, after I got fully settled into my major of choice, there wasn’t much time for more artistic pursuits. Though, I suppose I didn’t make time for it.” By the time he’d finished his little spiel he had the clone’s full attention.

“Good. Now, I really should give you an explanation of the notes and their names, along with keys and scales.” Vlad rolled his eyes as the young boy sitting next to him made a face. “We could do without, but then you could run the risk of making more noise than music, like that banging from before.”

“You didn’t like my music?” D27 managed a doe eyed pout before switching to a particularly grumpy frown. He had liked it after all.

“Ah, no, what I meant was, wouldn’t you like to learn to play one of the songs you’ve heard before instead of making something up?”

D27 thought it over, before nodding once and sending a calm attentive look in his Daddy’s direction.

“How about something simple then? Row, row, row your boat is easy enough, and it’ll allow me to explain some very basic concepts. Take this key for example, “Vlad paused to gesture to a white key near the very center of the piano. “This note is called “middle ‘c’ ”. It’s near the middle of most keyboards and all pianos, as the name would suggest. To the right of it is the note ‘d’ and next to that ‘e’. The octave, from one ‘c’ to another in this case, though necessarily eight notes by design, is ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘e’, ‘f’, ‘g’, ‘a’, ‘b’, ‘c’.” Vlad looked down at an increasingly squirming D27. So impatient. I hope he grows out of that, if not I’ll have to get rid of that trait myself. Vlad mentally grumbled before continuing with the lesson. “Now that that basic lesson is through, I can teach you to pay a simple tune.”

“What are the black keys for?”

“Oh well, we’ll get to those later-”

“But I wanna know now!”

“Alright, don’t start whining. So, those keys are called accidentals. They are half steps, half-tones, between the parts of the piano, the notes, a full tone apart.” Well that’s not exactly right, but close enough. “If you notice, between ‘e’ and ‘f’ and ‘b’ and ‘c’ there are no black keys. That’s because they are already only a half-tone apart. Now, that is all we are going to talk about those keys for the moment.” When D27 looked ready to protest, Vlad interrupted, “wouldn’t you rather learn to play something instead? In fact, right before this you were complaining about learning anything at all, other than a song that is.”

At the prospect of actually learning a song, the young clone decided against saying anything else. Well, I guess I can always ask more questions later. He rationalized.

When he was sure D27 wouldn’t say more, the older halfa guided the boy’s right hand and placed it over his own. “So I’m going to play the first part of the song and say the notes’ names as I go along. Pay attention, because I don’t want you to learn just from the muscle memory alone, and it’ll help your sight reading in the future to know the names of the notes.”

A few minutes later, the clone had mastered a hand full of beginner songs. He had begun to work in his left hand, when they had predictably run into a problem. The boy was having trouble using both hands at once, since it required moving them at different times.

“This is impossible!” D27 slid his hands from the keys and pouted. He hadn’t expected it to be so hard. It’s even harder than trying to turn into a ghost… At least then he was sure he was doing the right thing; now he was sure it was all wrong. He turned to look up at his impromptu teacher, sure that he’d be sporting a look of disapproval similar to the one from yesterday.

In fact, Vlad was only entertained by the boy’s melodramatics. “Is it? Well how about we test that theory?” He asked with a slowly growing smile. He easily combined with the melody with the simple chords played by his left hand, and sent a look in D27’s direction. “You know, very little worth doing is easy to do. I know most things come quickly and with little effort for you, but I can promise that the best things in your life will take effort to achieve.” He moved his hands from the keys and gestured to his student. “Why don’t you try again?” Vlad watched as the clone reluctantly set his little fingers back to the task of playing, a look of pure focus on his face.

D27’s nose scrunched up every timed he hit a wrong note, or missed the proper timing, but he continued to try. After a couple more minutes the song was nearly flawless. “I think I almost get it.”

“Indeed.” His teacher responded with a nod of encouragement.

“Hey Daddy?” the younger halfa stopped playing the song and looked back up at Vlad. “How many songs do you know?”

“Quite a few, off hand, I’d estimate-”

“Do you know this one?” D27 interrupted to hum the starting stanzas to one of the songs he’d heard in the movie. It was his favorite, and even better, it was played on the piano.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever heard that one.” It sounds like some ghastly pop monstrosity. Where in the world would he have-”

“It was in the movie I picked. I was hoping…” D27 trailed off, getting discouraged by the look on his Daddy’s face.

“Well…” Vlad stopped his objections cold after seeing the child’s crestfallen facial expression. “I might not know it yet, but like you I’m a fast learner. Why don’t you sing it for me, and I’ll play the melody? You remember what the ‘melody’ is right?” It can’t be too difficult, and if it would  make the boy stop that Danish-filled pouting…

“Yes!” D27 replied with enthusiasm snapping back into his voice and demeanor.

You and me together we'll be Forever you'll see We two can be good company You and me Yes, together we two Together, that's you Forever with me We'll always be good company You and me…

Vlad picked up the melody with ease and a few seconds after that began to improvise the left hand.

“No! That’s not right, it goes like this.” The clone interrupted and started humming the rest of the song.

“Ah, my mistake.” He chuckled and changed his left hand to the new set of repeating notes the clone was humming. D27’s face lit up, now much more satisfied with how it sounded.

“That’s almost perfect, um, but I think I did the melody wrong though.”

“That’s quite alright. This is more than enough to work with.” Vlad stated with a sly smile.

“Work with?” the confused child asked.

“Yes, listen.” After finishing the last refrain, he began to add notes to the melody, creating a twirling counter melody to the piece. At the same time he intensified the complexity of the chords and the depth. Before long, the room was ringing with a more symphonic version of the song. Without evening meaning to, Vlad got drawn into the music and the art of improved composition.

D27 happily sung along with what he still recognized of the melody until he lost track and got swept away into the music. Finally, his Daddy began to re-simplify the music until it was back to the original tones of the song.

You and me together we'll be, forever you'll see, we'll always be good company the clone started again. You and me , Vlad joined, just wait and see they finished together with the last twinkling notes of the song.

“Play it again!” D27 insisted with an eager grin.

“I-” before he could finish responding, the clock in the hall chimed out the hour. “Good heavens, how did it get so late?” He wondered worriedly. He was supposed to call Cynthia back over an hour ago. Well there goes the claim of calling my secretary ‘right back’. Vlad sighed and stood from in front of the Steinway. “I’m afraid we’ve wasted enough time here. At this point it would be better to wait until after lunch to call my office back, but until then, there’s something I wanted to show you.” If we can ever get around to it.

“But, I wanted to learn more music…” the young child grumbled while sending a dissatisfied frown in his father’s direction.

“Some other time D27, as at the moment, we have something better to do.”

“But-”

“No ‘buts’. The piano will be here later, and there are several more in the house other than this one. We can continue this at another time.”

D27 slid from the bench in front of the piano, and rushed over to his Daddy to tug at the hem of his shirt. “Daddy-”

“Blast it D27-”

“Please…” he practically begged with extra large eyes.

“Listen, I promised we’ll play more after lunch, but now-”

“Cross your heart, super promise right?”

Vlad let out a frustrated sigh. And sometimes I wish he was still too small to talk. At least then he didn’t complain and whine, even if I had to change diapers. “Cross my heart,” he said with an ‘x’ gesture over his chest. “We will play more later; I’ll even find you a real instructor. Now,” the elder halfa started while picking up and placing the clone onto his hip so he couldn’t either drag his feet or run away. “We’re going back to your room. I have some books I want you to read before it gets any later in the day.”

“Ok, but Daddy?” D27 wiggled so he could look back up at his father.

The weary businessman resisted the urge to snap at the small child. “Yes?” So many fudging questions…

“If you aren’t going to teach me, could I learn something else?”

“Something else…could you clarify?”

“Yeah, like a different music maker.” The piano was very pretty, at least when his Daddy played it, but he just didn’t feel like he was going to get it. Maybe there was another type of music thing he could play better.

“Instrument you mean,” Vlad absently corrected. He turned over the idea in his head a moment before responding, “I don’t see why not, but I didn’t think you were interested in anything else.” Not to mention you haven’t seen or heard any other type of instrument.

“I wanna learn to play the spring.”

“What?” Even though the clone was highly developed in some respects, he was still reminded of his lack of real life experience at seemingly random times. “D27, spring isn’t an instrument it’s a season.” Vlad stopped in front of the boy’s new bedroom and shifted the ever wiggling child into a more comfortable position.

“But you said that it was!” Honestly, sometimes I think Daddy just likes to confuse me. He mentally griped. “That’s what you said made the music on the shiny circle.”

“D27 that was the name of the song. It was played on string instruments, the violin actually.”

“Oh…well I want to play that.” He wiggled, finally, out of his Daddy’s hold and promptly ran over to the bed. He remembered how bouncy they were.

“I’m sure that can be arranged. Now stop bouncing on the mattress,” before I need to replace it, “and come over here.” Vlad chided, trying to decide between going over to stop him and organizing the variety of materials he’d grabbed from his personal library before their trip over the balcony railing.

He stopped jumping on the bed, using the final bounce to hop to the floor, before rushing over to the table, curious over its contents. “What’s it?”

Vlad mentally rolled his eyes over the choice of phrase before responding. “This is a volume of British poetry; though I’d rather you start with some American history. This particular book is about the revolutionary war against the British Empire. Here,” Vlad said while handing him a book that was closer to a door-stop than light reading. “Start with this; we’ll move on after you get some background done.”

It was more than an hour after lunch before he’d finally gotten back into contact with his secretary. She had worked through lunch and solidified the acquisition, much to the increasingly verbalized displeasure of the former board of directors. Morons. As if they could actually do anything about it. I have a controlling interest in the company’s stocks. If they had been paying any attention this would have never happened. Still I’m glad this is out of the way. Now I can focus more energy into my ghostly pursuits, and D27. He stretched and stood from behind his desk in his study. He’d set the clone down for a nap after lunch, and despite the fact he’d like more peace and quiet after the hectic morning; he had a feeling the boy would be awake again soon. Would it kill him to keep more normal sleeping hours?

Vlad winced as soon as the thought had crossed his mind. The clone’s abnormal sleep schedule was mostly his fault. He’d never even tried to get it on a schedule. The growth acceleration, the needed monitoring, and interventions made the idea initially seem like a waste of effort. Now though, he was wishing he’d at least attempted it, because was really was ready for a nap after all the work and worry over the last day or so especially. Well maybe they’ll be some luck, and he’ll still be asleep. The older halfa severely doubted it, but positive thinking wouldn’t hurt anything. Happy thoughts of peacefully napping clones in mind, the man started back to D27’s bedroom from his study. He arrived to find the boy already awake, and reading a tome of a book on Middle Ages art. “You’re awake?” Vlad noted blearily. So much for those happy thoughts…

D27 smiled up from his position in the middle of the room. “I told you I wasn’t sleepy Daddy…” He looked back into the book sitting on his lap, and flipped the page.

“You did,” his father started with a touch of confusion in his tone. Children his age sleep much more than this, and with how fast he’s growing; he should be exhausted. I’ll have to look into it… He was nearly sure it was some minor quirk, but he wanted to be absolutely certain. At the moment though, it could wait. “What are you reading?” Vlad asked while taking a peek at the contents of the book.

“Learning about the changes in subject matter in Middle Age art as it turned into the Renaissance.” He replied distracted by the pictures used as examples inside the book.

“Oh, and do you know when the Middle Ages supposedly turned into the Renaissance?”

“Um, they haven’t said yet, not a single date or anything, but I like the realism movement more than the impressionist movement that started after.” He suddenly commented.

“I thought you were reading about the Middle Ages?” The older halfa questioned the seeming non-sequitur.

“Well, I am now, but I read about the impressionists and the formation of cubism before this. I think I’m going backwards.” D27 set down his current book and pointed out two others. “I did like the mil-terry history of the United States though, but the Crusades and um ‘Age of Colonialism’ was more interesting because there were more places to read about.”

His father raised an eyebrow at the number of books he had supposedly consumed. “You read all this in the last 3 hours?”

“It gets faster to read the longer I do it.” the boy wiggled the art book in his lap into a more comfortable position, and continued reading.

Vlad was content to silently watch for several minutes as the scientist in him was fascinated by the clone’s extraordinary pace. His ordinary reading speed rivals mine when I’m speed reading. That’s incredible considering yesterday he was toddling through children’s chapter books. The boy’s results far exceeded his expectations, and if his retention was as high as the conversation suggested…I might need to start actively planning his learning schedule to make sure he’s being consistently challenged. Vlad was just starting a preliminary outline of a learning plan when he once again sensed the clone’s core activate.

This time was different, stronger. It was enough to snap him out of his thoughts and make him eye the boy cautiously. The last time it had activated, trip off the balcony notwithstanding, when he’d been around; the clone had tried to melt. “D27, are you feeling alright?”

“Yeah…” he answered absently, distracted by an especially beautiful fresco rendering in some place called “The Sistine Chapel.”

“Are you sure?” Vlad asked again when he felt the energy coming from the boy increase sharply. He was about to tell the Maddie AI to bring up D27’s vitals when the boy’s energy hit a new high and less than a second later there was a flash of bright light. He froze in anticipation as familiar white rings began to travel the length of the younger halfa’s body. The elder halfa held his breath as they made it to shoulder and knee level, but then petered out.

D27 blinked several times as the light finally cleared from his vision. He looked up, startled and watery eyed, at his Daddy. It hadn’t hurt, but it had been very unexpected. Most of all, he’d felt different and he’d had no control over the change.

Vlad rushed over to the clone, having already called up the input from the Nanites. “Maddie, are you certain these readings are accurate?” He asked while holding an ever more upset D27.

“Affirmative lovekins, the clone is still fully stable. The outpouring of energy hasn’t harmed him, and the readings indicate the build-up of more.”

“Shush, D27, you’re fine.” The elder halfa soothed while paging through the floating windows of holographic data hovering in front of him. From what he could tell, the boy’s core had just spontaneously triggered. In fact, it was similar to how his own had just suddenly fully turn on after a few months in the hospital, at least if he was reading the data correctly. And that was rather surprising, since not even a full day before the boy had been incapable of transforming, even while consciously working at it. He flipped back to the first screen and watched with apprehension as his spectral energy levels rose further. Finally, he concluded it was a normal, and more importantly safe, occurrence before eventually looking down at the calmer clone in his lap. “D27, how would you like to try to transform again?”

“I don’t know…” he remembered how demanding and hard it had been. Specifically, he remembered his Daddy had said he wasn’t able to do it yet. “You sure I can really do it this time?” He didn’t want to tire himself out. The green eating stuff, that Daddy said wasn’t actually eating him, came back when he did that. He definitely was sure he didn’t want that to ever happen again.

“Absolutely positive. How about this? I’ll transform too, at the same time.” Vlad offered as he watched the boy’s energy begin to spike once more. He was sure it wouldn’t obscure his readings, since he’d long ago calibrated the majority of his instruments to filter out his spectral signature.

“Um…” he thought about it for a few seconds as a weird feeling he hadn’t noticed before started up inside him.

“It’ll be fine I promise. Now, you remember how to transform?”

“Yes Daddy.” D27 responded, unsure now that the feeling had gotten impossible to ignore. It was like something cold pushing inside him.

“Ok, so I want you to give it a try on the count of three.” The older halfa eyed the screen as the energies reached the levels it had the last time he’d almost spontaneously transformed. “One…two…three!” Vlad counted off, and hoped he was right about the spike being harmless.

D27 closed his eyes and reached for the cool part inside him once more. This time, it was much easier, and all of a sudden there was a rush of cool energy all over. It felt like it lasted forever, but like it ended all too soon. He opened his eyes, just as the flashes of black and white light were fading. Something’s wrong! The young child thought with gradually growing panic. Everything felt different and weird, and just plain new. “Daddy…” he called tentatively.

Vlad for his part had been joyously taking in the clone’s ghost form. It was a perfect match for Daniel, except for being much younger.

When his Daddy didn’t respond, D27 really started to get distressed. Before he knew it, panicky tears were spilling down his cheeks.

“D27, it’s ok!” Vlad gasped when he caught the scared look on the boy’s face. “You’re fine; you did it!” He stood up with the clone in his arms and spun them both once. “You transformed D27; you did it!” He repeated with an ever-growing grin on his face. His own excitement seemed to calm the boy down, and after another happy spin, the young child began to smile. Then he laughed, and before Vlad knew it, so was he. He wasn’t just happy because of what it meant for his own accomplishments; he was overjoyed almost for the sake of being so. It was like he could feel D27’s own exhilaration as well.

“I really did it Daddy?” D27 questioned with another giggle.

“See for yourself…” Vlad responded while floating over to the mirror on the dresser. He watched with warm affection as the boy took in his new appearance with growing pride. Suddenly, Skulker’s words came back to him. D27 really is an awful name. “So my boy, I was thinking…” Vlad waited until he had the c- my son’s- excited, but full attention. “D27 is a rather unusual name, and I was thinking you’d perhaps like another.” When the boy didn’t respond, Vlad continued, “how’s Daniel sound?”

D27 blinked a few times as he thought it over, and then smiled and nodded.

“Well then, Daniel it is.”