A Dream Deferred
Summary: The title is an homage to Langston Hughes, who wrote a poem by the same name. Despite his evil schemes, Vlad almost had part of his fondest dreams come true.
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.
Those infernal children! Who knew how cruel they could be?
True, the first instance happened during one of my own plots to get Daniel and Maddie for my own. Maddie spurned my attentions at first, but faced with my ghostly "pets," and Daniel unable to use his powers, I was sure they saw the sense in being with me.
Maddie was absolutely charming, claiming to perhaps "make a mistake right now." How I longed for this moment! But she wanted to freshen up after being in the woods all evening. She was perfect as she was, but who was I to say no to her as she somehow added to her perfection on my behalf?
Daniel, in rare form, called me Uncle Vlad. Suspecting foul play (sometimes I hate to be so right), I told him not to bother trying to butter me up. He had at least fifteen more minutes (so I thought - the brat turned back the clock) before his powers returned. He's barely a threat with them. Without them, he is as defenseless as any mere mortal. Perhaps more so, as he was a short ninety-pound weakling in human form.
But then he said the magic words. He said that he and Maddie decided together to stay here with me, and be the family I've always wanted us to be. He even called me "new Dad." I cried real tears, as my dearest dreams had all come true. My lady was preening herself for me, and my son stood before me asking for a hug.
I cannot express the outrage and betrayal I felt when I realized the hug from my would-be son was a ploy to trap me with the infernal device, the Specter Deflector. True, Daniel and I had "a much fairer fight" than the last time we faced off. I couldn't even marvel at his act of deception; I was far too hurt. Physically, I was weakened, but the pain I refer to was entirely emotional. I imagine that his revenge was complete once he used my own invention and taunt against me. That much I probably deserved. But not even I deserved the emotional agony he caused me.
Months later, Daniel's sister Jasmine came to my home in Wisconsin. She said something about Daniel upsetting her, but more importantly, she rejected her father and sought me out instead. This was a priceless, unlooked for treasure. Who would have known that one of the Fenton children would willingly come to seek a home with me?
Being the responsible adult and soon-to-be guardian, I had her call her parents to let them know where she was. I don't care about what Jack would have felt, but Maddie would be terribly worried, and I would not be the vehicle to cause her pain.
It was late in the evening, so I needed to wait until morning to call my lawyer and draw up the adoption papers. But soon a Fenton child would be my own!
I should have suspected something when she was in my private rooms. Further still, I should have suspected something when I found her in my lab. But she found one of my few weaknesses and played it against me: she praised my brilliance while putting down her father. There was no way for me to reject her after that.
When Skulker brought me Daniel as a gift, I thought my life was nearly complete with satisfaction: Jasmine as my daughter, Daniel as my captive - it was a productive day of gifts as I could imagine. And then Jasmine recognized her brother's ghost form.
It was a losing proposition - I should have known better than to pit sister against brother. But Jasmine's love and loyalty was too serendipitous to be true, and I had to test them. It was indeed too good to be true.
How could she have been so cruel? I've done nothing to her. But here she was, with Daniel, laughing at my gullibility. The loss of the Ecto-Skeleton and the Ecto-Converter were lamentable, and when Daniel phased the remote that controlled the nano-bots injected in Jasmine into the ground, I lost a handsome amount of control over either child. But the loss of Jasmine just hurt.
I should say, "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." While this might be true about Jasmine, the fact is that both of these children toyed with my emotions. But if I'm going to be honest with myself, even I have to admit there is nothing I can do about it.