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If Skulker hadn't of come to him when he did, Vlad doesn't know what he would have done. Who knows how long it would have been before he'd finally learned Danny's whereabouts. What would have happened if…
He'd razed their headquarters to the ground. None that had a hand in hurting the younger man deserved to live. None deserved mercy. Once Danny was safely tucked away in his bedroom, Vlad sets to work again. He orders Fight Knight and Skulker to pick up anything they can from the facility before the reinforcements get there. He wants it stripped clean down to the bone. He wants every last weapon, every last secret. Vlad is going to obliterate the Guys in White. He will start work on taking over the ghost tech game tonight. Incorporate it into his companies. He'll be the leading man in ghost weaponry. In ten years no one will ever remember their name.
He feels rather than hears Danny moving through the mansion. Vlad hadn't let his ectosignature out of range ever since getting back. He catches him in the upstairs hallway.
"Daniel you shouldn't be moving yet."
Danny's torso is bandaged from top to bottom. Vlad's chest twists at the sight.
"What happened?"
"Daniel please, just this once listen to me." Vlad tries to herd the man back into his room.
Danny's grunts and wraps a hand around his stomach.
"I promise I'll tell you everything later but now is not the time. You need to rest first."
Danny looks like he's about to argue, Vlad braces himself, but then he exhales and lets Vlad guide him back. Vlad thanks heaven for small miracles and helps Danny settle down.
"Are you hungry? I can make you some soup."
"Hmm, yeah."
Vlad smiles. And squeezes his hand. "Be right back, little badger."
Vlad closes the door behind him on the way down to the kitchen. Let's see, he could do some old fashioned chicken soup. Although potatoe was always a good route too. Then again Danny had liked the broccoli and chedder they'd eaten that one night.
Vlad goes with his gut and begins heating up a pot for the soup. He'll have to find some crackers as well. Nothing too solid yet.
He's not alone for very long before Danny is moving again. Vlad sighs in exasperation. Can't get that boy to do anything. Except Danny's ectosignature is moving alarmingly fast. He appears in the kitchen before Vlad can go make him lay down again. He furiously holds up his phone in front of Vlad. Vlad can make out an article pulled up on the screen.
"Two survivors Vlad. Two. And they're not expected to make it through the night!"
Vlad blinks, then lifts a brow. "This is what you're out of bed for?"
Danny is quiet for all of two seconds before he raises his hands and slams them down on the counter.
"You don't even understand why I'm upset do you?!"
Vlad scoffs. "Of course I do. I just don't see why it matters."
"Lives matter Vlad! People matter!"
"Some more than others." He says casually turning back to the soup.
Danny screams into his hands.
"No! That's not--!" He stops. Takes a deep breath.
"Vlad. I know this is hard for you, but killing people is wrong."
Danny trying to take the high road is something he can take. After all he was used to it. Danny ignoring his ailing body is something he can learn to live with, albeit bregrudgingly. What he cannot take is the younger man talking down to him like he is a child.
Vlad's teeth show through his growl as he turns back to address him. "They would have torn you limb from limb." He says this slowly. So that it sinks in through Daniel's thick skull. "And they would have done it all while you were still alive."
"That doesn't give you the right to take their lives!" Danny shoots back.
Vlad looks at him with a fury Danny has never seen before. The red in his eyes blazes hotter than any fire in hell.
"I have every right to protect you. I have every right to punish those who wrong me as I see fit. I am better than them. We are better."
"We're not better! We're human same as everyone else!"
Vlad actually laughs. Throws his head back and guffaws.
"Daniel we are so much more. Humans live and die useless lives like specks of dust in the wind. You and I will have been put on a path far greater. We will live longer. We will see nations rise and fall. What human could ever compare to us?"
Vlad's conviction rises in his words. His eyes wild with truth. Danny wishes he could say that he doesn't recognize the man in front of him. But he does. And that's what makes it worse.
He turns and goes to back his room.
"Daniel we're not finished! Don't walk away from when I'm talking to you!"
Danny floats upwards, rising through the floor to the familiar bedroom. He goes straight to his closet and begins taking out his clothes.
"What are you doing?" Vlad comes up behind him.
"Packing."
Danny shoves a handful into a duffle bag. Vlad's eyes flash red. He reaches out and rips the suitcase out from Danny's hands.
"Hey!"
"No you're not." Vlad says. He dumps the contents out on the floor, not caring at the mess he's made.
Danny leans down to pick them back up. "Yes I am! Clearly I made a mistake thinking you could ever have any form of human compassion!"
Danny snatches the suitcase and turns back to the closet. He doesn't see the look of devastation cross Vlad's face.
Perhaps he should have foreseen this. Of course it would fall apart. Of course it wasn't meant to last. Danny was too good for him. And Vlad had never been able to hold on to anything remotely good.
He wants to leave. And why wouldn't he? Vlad had known, somewhere in the dark corners of his mind, this had been a possibility. That Danny would wise up. That he'd regret everything. See Vlad as the obsessive, selfish man he was and want nothing more to do with him.
Vlad viciously stabs at the self pity in his gut. Danny doesn't get to back out now. He knew what Vlad was when he moved in. This was not on him.
"You're not leaving."
"Yes. I am. I need time away from your stupid face."
Vlad snatches his wrist and grips it with a strength that would crush a normal humans bones.
"You're not leaving." Vlad breaths out fire and it rushes over Danny's cold skin.
He glares. "You can't stop me."
Vlad smirks. "On the contrary."
He pushes Danny with a suddenness that has him falling backwards. Danny cries out. He'd have hit the floor had Vlad not grabbed his wrist again. The older man dangles him over the carpet with a smug expression.
"Look at you. Too weak to even stand."
"Let go of me Vlad!"
He does.
Danny falls to the floor with a thump. He huff's, clutching his chest in pain. Vlad feels a momentary pang of regret. He really should be in bed.
Vlad takes his arm and shoves him up onto the mattress. "You're going to stay here in this room until I deem you healthy enough to come out."
"Are you for real? You're going to keep me here?"
Danny struggles to get up but Vlad holds him down with his arms at either side of his head.
"It's for your own good Daniel!"
"Oh and you would know a lot about my own good!" Danny glares up at him. He tries to kick out his legs and dislodge the other man. "You always assume you know what's best never letting me make my own decisions!"
Vlad's lips pull back in a snarl. He grabs Danny's chin and digs his fingers in so hard Danny yelps.
"I didn't make you move in with me! I didn't force you to stay here! That was you Daniel! But go ahead and paint me your villain! That's all you ever seem to do!"
Vlad is breathing hard above him. And had Danny been younger, had it been even just a year ago, he wouldn't have caught the way Vlad was purposefully twisting his face into anger. Banishing the hurt from his voice.
"You are not leaving me."
For just that tiny second, Danny sees a flicker of something else. Danny goes still underneath him. Vlad's grip doesn't loosen. He's waiting for the inevitable attack. Danny tries to lift his arm but Vlad won't let go.
That was the thing about Vlad. He was always two steps ahead, always watching for another attack, always ready. He'd been fighting all his life. For attention, for power--for love. He didn't know how not to. Didn't know how to fight without a physical confrontation. Didn't know how to persuade without lies and tricks. No one had taught him how to be gentle. How to let go.
He is frightened. Danny realizes. Something hot gathers behind his eyes and he swallows it down. Vlad is scared. That if he leaves now he will not come back.
He tries to lift his hand again. "Vlad." He says softly.
The man doesn't move.
"I need to go home Vlad. I just need some time."
"You are home."
And Danny doesn't know how to respond to that. Because in that sentence, the last of Vlad's anger collapses and it comes out rough and wet. Danny tests the muscles in his arm. This time Vlad allows him some give. And he lifts it up to stroke Vlad's face.
"I promise I'll come back. Please let me go."
Vlad shakes his head.
His places a hand on Danny's bandaged chest and strokes the tender flesh. "They can't have you. They don't deserve you."
Danny bites his lip. He breaths in and feels Vlad's hand on over his heart. It thumps painfully.
"I'd rather suffer trying to do good than doing evil."
"It's not evil to act in your own self interests."
They could go around and around in circles but they always came back to this one same argument. They would never cave. Never see the others perspective.
"You once told me you weren't a villain. That all you ever wanted was love."
Vlads hand stills in its strokes on his chest.
"So then why did you run for governor Vlad?" Danny watches the man above him. Sees the emotions cross his face plain as day. "Why do you feel like it's okay to take what you want simply because you want it? Why do you crave more? Was everything you told me a lie?"
Vlad clenches his teeth. No. He did want love. And having Daniel by his side was everything he'd ever hoped for. But there'd always been something inside him that enjoyed watching other people, other creatures, cower before him. Having them submit to his will.
But that wasn't wrong. And it certainly wasn't evil. It was the natural order of things. For powerful beings to exert their domanince over the weak. Vlad was a powerful half ghost. Therefore he enjoyed using it.
"That childish black and white mindset of yours will kill you one day Daniel." He lets the words blacken his heart and steel his nerves. "There's nothing wrong with taking what you're owed."
"And what are you owed Vlad?" He asks firmly. "Who told you you have the right to destroy lives?"
"My powers boy!" Vlad hisses, his fangs lengthening. He grew tired of this conversation. He should just drug Danny and be done with it! "We were both bestowed a miraculous gift! Anyone else would have died! But we lived against all odds! We were chosen for something greater!"
"It was as accident! We weren't chosen! Listen to yourself for once fruitloop!"
The nickname hits home and Vlad tenses above him. Danny swallows, feeling the shift in the air.
"If we're resorting to childish measures then so be it."
"What are--?"
Vlad teleports away. Danny sits up and looks around the room. The hell?
Vlad pops back in and Danny flinches. Before he can even ask, Vlad takes his hand and cuffs it to the headboard. Danny stares in disbelief.
"Vlad." He tests the cuffs. Yep. Ghost proof. "What the fuck?"
"I'll go finish that soup in the kitchen shall I?"
Danny screams as Vlad leaves the room. He twists his hand desperately, kicking the blankets and pillows off the bed.
Vlad finds his way back to the kitchen. Danny's shouting could be heard even down here. He takes some broccoli out of the refrigerator and starts to cut it.
Now that he was alone, the pot boiling behind him, Vlad's thoughts turn inwards. Danny had asked him why he'd run for governor. To be truthful, he hadn't really known at first. Being the mayor of Amity Park had turned out to be quite fun. (Though most of it had been because he was messing with Danny every other week.) After he had stepped down he found himself missing it.
For nearly 30 years all he'd ever done was fight for love. Every word, every action, every plan he made was for the sake of having someone else in his life. It was the only thing he'd ever wanted. Ever needed.
And then suddenly Danny was there. Despite everything he'd done to the boy, Danny had willingly come to him. Vlad had done it. He'd succeeded. There was no more reasons to keep fighting. All his schemes dried up.
He'd go into the office. Do some paperwork, order his employees about and go home. Repeat. A dull existence with nothing to show for it.
It was better than he ever imagined having somebody to go home to. His castle had transformed into his haven. A home. But now his work was anything but. Where he once found purpose in his companies, he now found nothing. It had gotten tedious. And it had gotten boring. There was no excitement. No searching for ancient relics or trespassing through dark lands. No sneaking off on some grand plan. Before today, he hadn't seen Fright Knight or Skulker in months.
Ordering the humans in his company around just wasn't the same as having minions who followed his every whim. Being the CEO wasn't the same as being the most powerful ghost in the Ghost Zone. Here he was, having finally possessed all of his dreams and he still wanted more. He doesn't just want the love of his life. He wants the fame and glory too. All his money and power. He wants it all. And why shouldn't he have it all? he is more than a human and more than a ghost. He is the best of both species. The accident wasn't a mistake. It had been fate.
As a child Vlad had always been told he was destined for great things. Groomed for perfection. He had a small rebellious phase after graduating high school. Refusing to go to the college his parents had wanted for him and going to Wisconsin University instead.
He sees now what they meant. He was faster. Stronger. More intelligent than others. He was their superior in every way. So then why not take what he was so rightfully owed?
Vlad has never wanted the world. Or so he always told himself. He had never been the villain of the story. Just like Danny has never been the hero (though the other halfa certainly did try). But this desire within him does not feel new. It feels raw. It feels old. And he feels hungry. Why settle for being an ordinary man when he is nothing but?
He hears another shout from upstairs. He smiles. Daniel would come to see his perspective in due time. If he could be patient enough in letting the boy finally come to him, he could be patient in this as well.
-
It's three entire days before Vlad lets Danny out of the room. He'd even put up a ghost shield inside the bedroom's perimeter in order to ensure the younger man did not escape. When Vlad comes in with the Plasmius Maximus he only looks slightly apologetic.
Danny breathes obscenities under his teeth clenched in pain, but other than that he's quiet. Weirdly so. He doesn't even come out of his room when Vlad takes down the ghost shield. And that had been a week ago.
Vlad doesn't like this. Not one bit.
He's contemplating the merits of forcing Danny to speak up when there's a knock at the front door.
He stands in disbelief when he opens it.
"Hey V-man! How's it going!"
Vlad stares. "Not that it isn't a pleasant surprise to see you both, but may I ask what the occasion is?"
Now it's Jack's turn to look confused. "Did you forget? It's moving day! Danny asked us to come help him out a couple days ago!"
Vlad seethes, hiding a glowing fist behind his back. He should have had the foresight to take that little rat's phone away from him!
As if on cue Danny appears behind him. "Mom! Dad! Thanks for coming! I've got a few more things to pack up and we're good to go!"
Maddie and Jack move past Vlad to go inside. He glares at Danny as the younger man smirks at him. He tilts his head as if to say 'try to talk your way out of this one Plasmius.'
Well done Daniel. He's moved his queen to cut Vlad's king off in a check. He forces his fist to relax and he lets go of the power building up in his arm. He'll have the next move soon. And this time it'll be a checkmate.