It was all so familiar, the beeping of these machines. Monitoring his health, his heart, seeing if he was truly alive. He had years of it, so long ago, as he got over the pain. The pain of the accident and the betrayal of those he held more dearly than anyone.
Then it came again, when his life had doubled. Though that was only for a day, the time he had been weakest and practically begging for help. He almost died. The time he was creating life on his own, he could have died.
And again, when his life had doubled, he was in the hospital. However, unlike the last time, there was no worried 'college friends' or others in sickbeds around him. It was like that first visit, when his friends had been too afraid to visit him. From guilt, he realized. But by then, it was too late.
They would never forgive what he had done. No one even knew who he was when he had finally returned, retrieving half his fortune from a back up account. He always kept half his money somewhere people didn't know about, for this situation.
So, now here he was, alone. In one of the best hospitals in the world after his return thirty years ago. He had managed to find a plastic surgeon in the Ghost Zone after going through a portal in space.
No one knew him. No one recognized him. He was alone.
Not that that was any different.
He was only John Smith. A simple name. He had given up his plans of grandeur by then and accepted his fate.
The sound of the machines though, just reminded him of happy days past, before misery set in.
"Mister Smith, you have a visitor," a nurse said.
He looked up in confusion. A visitor? No one visited him!
Oh, perhaps someone who thought they might be able to get his fortune? Well, maybe he could shoot them down. Maybe if someone else was miserable, he'd feel better. Schaefreuder and all that.
"Let them in," he said, with a weak wave.
A woman walked in. She looked rather age, though not as much as him. Perhaps...fifty? She had long black hair, but it was starting to gray, wearing a black women's business suit, sunglasses hiding her eyes.
Almost familiar, but he couldn't place her.
The nurse left and the woman walked over after closing the door, carrying a beautiful flower arrangement and setting it on the stand beside him, taking a seat beside him. "How are you today, Mister Smith?" The woman asked in a cordial tone. Again, almost familiar.
He shrugged. "Oh, the same as any old geezer reaching the end of his life," he said with nonchalance. "Thank you for the flowers."
"I thought the place would be bleak with no visitors. A few flowers can fix that right up, so I thought, why not," the woman said with a smile.
"Ooo, you've got a bit of bite in that charm, don't you? Does that mean you're not going to get what you're after by playing nice?" He asked with an amused chuckle.
"And what do you think I want?" The woman asked with a raised eyebrow.
"One would assume money. It's not like I have anything of worth for such a high class woman as yourself," he said with just a hint of sarcasm.
"I'm afraid you're wrong," the woman said, crossing her legs, smiling a bit in amusement.
Now that was odd. No one had any reason to visit him otherwise. "Oh? Then do enlighten me," he said dryly.
"John Smith. Pretty plain name. Especially compared to your real name," the woman commented with a smirk, crossing her arms and tilting her head just a bit. "Don't you think, Vlad Masters? Even Plasmius was better."
He stared, for the first time, feeling an almost fear. Someone knew! Someone found out the truth!
The fear, however, was only temporary. What did he have to fear? It was not like he had anything to lose.
"Ah. Then this is...what? You're still angry of what happened forty years ago? You were only a child then. Or perhaps you aim to blackmail me that for my money?" He asked in a dull tone, looking towards the window.
"No fight left in you, huh?" The woman asked. Was that...pity in her voice?
Hm, her voice sounded a bit like Maddie's.
It only furthered to remind him of his life.
"There is nothing left to fight for," he said.
"You really are a lonely creature," the woman said. Yes, that was pity.
"I prefer to be alone," he said, just a bit cross. He didn't need anyone's pity. He didn't want it! He was a fool, and he knew it. He had done bad, and accepted it.
He had been stupider than Jack Fenton, for crying out loud!
The woman was silent for several moments. "That's a lie," the woman said in a soft tone.
He chuckled. "And how would you know such things? Perhaps the same way you found me?"
"...in essence, yes," the woman replied after a brief pause.
He looked towards the woman, his eyes narrowing a bit. "...who are you?"
The woman stared back, expression hidden by the sunglasses, her mouth neither smiling nor frowning. For a while, the machine's beep was the only sound in the room.
"They're still alive, you know," the woman finally said. "That family."
He frowned. Why bring that up? He knew that. "I'm aware. Maddie and Jack are in a retirement home for the famous, Jasmine is supposed to do a speech for a Nobel Prize for her research of Ghost Psychology, Daniel is happily married to Miss Manson, a famous author now herself, and helping his children teach his children to use their ghost powers. And supposedly Mister Foley is showing how technology can help with the democratic process to make the government more efficient. Miss Valerie is teaching the first ever Ghost Fighting school for all the rebellious ghosts," he said in exsperation and a dismissive wave like it was obvious. "Why?"
"Interesting," the woman said, tapping her chin thoughtfully.
"What?" He asked. He was getting annoyed. This woman wouldn't answer his questions, but she would not stop hers?!
"You never mentioned her. Danny Phantom's sidekick," the woman commented. "His best friend and the girl who was once his rival, but not her."
He paused then. Ah, her. Of course one would question. Supposedly she made her debut after he left. A child who he had experimented on, if he wasn't mistaken. Probably to avoid the people who disproved cloning.
That was all he dared to find out. "She's not important," he said coldly, looking ahead and not at the woman anymore.
"That's cold," the woman said, chuckling. Did it sound...forced? "Didn't you shove her in a portal to see if she'd go like Danny?"
"Only if you believe the stories," he said in a tone that neither confirmed or denied.
"Personally, I always thought she was a clone," the woman said. He tensed. She realized? "I mean, ghost powers are one thing, but to look exactly like him, but female at fourteen? And the suit, those things repair themselves according to Miss Manson's book, so it's something inherit in the transformation, right? And for her uniform to be the same? I always thought it odd."
"Is that what you came here for? To find out if she's a clone?" Vlad asked and chuckled. "No, no, halfa DNA is too unstable. It's a wonder Daniel and I aren't adversely affected. To recreate it, would be impossible."
"You sound certain," the woman commented.
"I tried it. And every clone melted. That's why I went to using a human in an experiment," Vlad said coldly. "Just an orphan I picked up from a poor country. Already an outcast because she took after a soldier father and looked European instead of looking like everyone else in that third world country. No one would miss her. Quite a fast jaunt for me, with the money I had."
Why? Why was he saying these things?
Because she was probably the one he wronged most of all. By the time he met Daniel, the boy felt no great pain at fighting him. Maddie and Jack? Well, they got over him being gone once, they could do it again and they had their family.
But Danielle? To her, he had been her world, until she met Danny. He suspected she would have listened to his orders if he hadn't gotten impatient. She would have probably melted too. Not like he planned to ever stabilize her.
The worst of it all, he realized?
Maddie would never be his, not by that point in the game.
Danielle...could have been. She WANTED to be, she did everything she could to make him happy and only hesitated when she, like any child would do, was scared.
It was probably good he snapped at her, for her to have this chance, this life. At least he could do one good thing in his life and confirm to whatever source suspected she wasn't that she was indeed just some kid who got the luck to be his experiment.
"That's another lie, Mister Masters," the woman said.
He shrugged. "Believe as you wish. It no longer matters to me," he said. The more uncaring he was, the more believable the story.
"...I wonder....would that once 'little girl' have stayed with you? To make you not live alone? She had always refused questions about you, never saying good things about you, but...never saying bad either. Not like everyone else. That, I wondered too," the woman said thoughtfully. "Especially since she was twelve, why be attached at all to hesitate after risking her death?"
"Because even being thrown into a portal was better than her existence until she found out she could get a better life thanks to Daniel. Now will you stop asking me questions about her?! She was a pest in my side! Who cares if she didn't say bad things?!" He snapped, turning to glare at the woman.
Only to meet with sad blue eyes.
Bright blue eyes.
Then it clicked.
"....oh my god," he whispered, staring with wide eyes.
"Hello, dad," the woman said, sunglasses on the night stand, arms resting on crossed knees.
"...don't call me that," he said, looking away again. No venom. Emotionless, all he could manage. Why? Why was she here?! "How did you find me?"
"The country was Mexico, you know. According to the papers I had made. I keep in contact with guys like that," Danielle said calmly. "I'm working in ghost biology. As such, I work with a lot of ghost doctors and some of them aren't very good with confidentiality. It took a while, but...I managed to find you," she explained.
"...and why are you here, Danielle?" He asked, keeping his voice emotionless.
"You didn't snap at me for calling you dad, like you would if you weren't in the mood to mock," Danielle pointed out.
"Should I?" He asked.
"It makes me believe you trying to confirm my story wasn't to rid any connection to me, but to make sure my story isn't torn apart," Danielle commented.
"And why would I care about supporting your story, Danielle?"
"Because you don't want to cause me pain. I believe you're smart enough to know why I lied."
"I didn't figure out who you were."
Danielle laughed. "You think you can lie to me, dad?"
Why was she calling him dad?
"And why would I be lying? It is also proven you can indeed fall for my lies," He retorted, still refusing to look at her. She grew up so much. Without him, into a woman who was so composed and sounded so much like the woman that was technically her mother.
"I know...because if you were angry, you would have said horrible things. If you hadn't accepted what you did was wrong...you would have gladly said what I was, what I did, and make it seem it didn't matter," Danielle said quietly. "Just like I told myself, when I thought you cared. That it was all right to kill my own brother because I was better, and he wasn't important. I only realized the truth...afterwards. When I realized that the only difference was, I was smarter than them, and could morph. That...it was all right to murder him," she whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear.
He was silent. What she said...
What HAD he done? Not only shattered her world, but...make her believe herself a murderer?!
"You must despise me," he found himself said, a hint of remorse in his voice.
Danielle was silent for a few moments before standing up, walking past his bed and to the window, looking out over peaceful forestry behind the hospital. "When I first heard of you being back, of being alive, I was angry. I thought 'how dare he? How dare he come back after everything he did! Would he come and try to take Maddie? Is he that stupid!' Things along those lines," Dani said, opening the window to let in the fresh spring air, leaning on the sill with her palms.
She didn't even see his pain. He knew she didn't. It hurt to hear those things from another, especially when he berated himself with such.
"And then, I paused. And wondered. I thought you had chosen your loneliness before. You...chose to reject me, because you wanted someone specifically. You had been alone because of your own foolish choice, to ignore one who would love you, and only asked you return the favor, if only a little bit. Just a bit of tenderness, a bit of a desire for me to not die, and I would have been yours," Danielle said. Her tone, however, had not been berating. All it sounded was hurt and sad, yet it lacked the accusation he expected.
He knew. He knew his foolishness. A bright little girl who adored him, and he asked her to die.
"That was why I was so angry with you. I was like you, in that my anger came because of my love being rejected by you. And the fact my only choices were to do that, or to die. I didn't want to die, so...I was forced to be alone. That had been how I could hold anger against you. Because I had no choice to be alone. Go to Danny, how would I be explained? There was none, not until after the meteor," she sighed and let out a small laugh.
"And then I realized, we were the same after that. You...were forced to be alone, just like me. Come back and be hunted. No longer having the choice to return to your life," she said and then turned around, leaning against the sill, and smiling sadly. "I wondered...would you see how I saw things? And regret the bad that you did, once you were forced to face facts?"
He stared, It was all he could do. She was correct in her idea. That he realized his mistakes, his regrets. After being forced to give up his life, he had to face facts.
"...why are you here, Danielle?" He asked, curiosity in his tone. No, this wasn't to rub it in his face. Danielle...it didn't fit that she would act like this to be cruel, but if not that, then what did she want?
Danielle smiled, a kind, warm smile. "Because I saw that I was right. So I thought that I would do something, now that we understood each other," she said. "A second chance, at your choice."
The constant beeping for a moment had a disruptive meter, as the words sunk in, so strong was their impact. She was....?
She actually....?
Another chance?
"I'm married, you know. His name is Elliot. He knows about all this already. And I have three kids. One named Dane, one named Valeria, and Evan Vladimir. Middle name was a go for him, since I could tell the media I was a bit grateful for the ghost powers," Danielle added. "I thought that it might be nice, if my children could meet one more grandfather."
A grandfather.
He could be a grandfather.
This woman, who was once that little girl, who he had so wronged, wanted to make him a grandfather. Because she said they were the same.
They were...the same.
Vlad, after forty years, felt a true smile cross his face. A small one, but a real one. "I was foolish, to forsake you as my daughter. I shant forsake my grandchildren too," he said. "I would love to see them."
This beeping didn't have to be the only sound in this room anymore.