Author's Note
So, this was a plot bunny that spawned after reading a novel called Odds Against Tomorrow by Nathaniel Rich, as well as another DP fanfic called Gravity and Other Unreliable Things by Represent. I recommend both, although whether either is to your taste is a bit iffy. They are both very different to what I am about to write here, but if you have read them you might understand where some of this was inspired.
A sincere warning to readers: this is not rated T for safety, this is rated T for a reason. If you want a story stuffed with cotton candy, it's best for both of us that you go elsewhere.
Beginning with a short starting chapter, as usual. Later chapters will be longer. First shot at writing something horror-ish, so let's see how this goes.
Disclaimer
I don't own Danny Phantom. But Vlad just might…
Worst-Case Scenario
A fanfic by Pseudinymous
Staring into those blood-red eyes, the small, dishevelled teenager felt as if his soul was being sucked straight out of his chest. They were the sort of eyes that did a passionate dance with you before violently tearing off your head, tossing it aside and making a highly distressed phone call to 911. Opportunistic. Malicious. And above all hungry.
It was Vlad. This was Vlad. Vlad Masters, one of Wisconsin's few multi-billionaires, was a ghost. Or was he a vampire? He might as well have been. The guy certainly looked the part. Maybe he was actually both a ghost and a vampire? Was that even possible? Was-
Vlad leaned in, and Danny's thoughts promptly retched and clattered together in protest. Why was this banter bubbling into his conscious thoughts in such a dangerous, terrifying situation? The closer Vlad got, the more clearly Danny's breath rose in little puffs of smoke, incapable of condensing in the frigid air. Every feeling of comfort and confidence had promptly been drained from the atmosphere, leaving the place feeling something like the inside of a powered freezer sitting on top of the sun. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, and he trembled. Vlad grinned.
"Evidently you're not your father's son, boy," he sneered. "Your father would only be able to wander down here by sheer accident. This was calculated. Like your dearest mother, Maddie."
Danny tried dismally to work out whether his eyeballs were freezing or melting. Both, he decided. Vlad took this silence as his cue to continue, but now his face had fallen. Danny liked this even less than the maniacal grin.
"You have just seen what no other human on the planet has," Vlad – or better yet, the monster – began, apparently having prepared a speech. "It is something that is not intended for simple beings like you, nor was it particularly intended for me. But your father, the oaf, he aimed it squarely at me anyway."
The teen's expression was frozen, eyes wide with shock. Numbly, he shook his head, not understanding.
"I keep forgetting you're only fourteen." Vlad choked slightly, as if in distaste. "The time between when Maddie had given birth to you and now has just seemed so very, excruciatingly long. Every moment of my waking life I am forced to remember that Jack Fenton destroyed my life and slipped that woman out of my very grasp!"
The monster's anger was explosive. The temperature in the room had either just raised or dropped a few degrees; there was no way of telling which was true, but nevertheless the intensity was even greater. Danny shuddered, every part of his brain telling him to run except one small area, which apparently didn't have his survival instincts so thoroughly etched in. It said, "Stop it! Go away!"
Too late did Danny realise that those very words had just spilled from his mouth. Immediately, he regretted all four of them. Vlad leaned in so that his forehead was almost on Danny's now, and Danny fought an incredible urge to be sick right there and then, straight on the monster's shoes. From this position he could see all of the pale blue flecks of Vlad's skin, which was far too close for comfort or sanity.
Vlad's breath was oddly minty, however.
"No, I will not just go away," said Vlad. "I was going to grant you, your mother and your sister leave at the end of this weekend, had everything gone to plan."
The words hit Danny's heart like a giant knife of ice, a stalactite. "… What about dad?" he managed, voice down to a whisper.
"Your old man? Regardless of the day's events, he dies tonight. Right here."
"Why?!"
Vlad sauntered around the boy, taking the opportunity to glare at him from a different angle. "Because he deserves it, Daniel. Because he is the sole party responsible for trapping me in this dreadful limbo. Because he is the only one standing between your mother and I! She loved me, you understand?!"
Danny's breath rattled in his chest; Vlad was losing it, and there was no way to escape. The stairwell had been closed, and with the exception of the ghost portal swirling in the background, there wasn't any other option. He wondered somewhat if he could just try to escape by jumping through, but that was an even worse idea; he didn't know where it led, whether it worked properly, or how hostile the environment beyond it would be. Would there even be oxygen? Would he jump through the swirling green mass only to be greeted by the jaws of asphyxia? Having never opened a portal themselves, Danny's parents had never known the conditions of the Ghost Zone; only that it existed, and that its existence could be measured in our world with certain devices.
He was trapped. And as long as he was trapped, he had no way to warn his dad. Or his mum, for that matter.
"So now, after this," Danny choked, helplessly. "You're not going to let any of us leave? You're just going to kill us all? What if I never told anyone? Please, just don't-!"
"Shhh…" Vlad cooed, shaking his head. Danny couldn't tell whether his pupil-less eyes were trained on him or not. "No one but your old man needs to die tonight, so long as you play the good little hostage and do exactly as I say. Everything will be for the best. Are you prepared to follow my instructions, dear Daniel?"
"You can't kill my dad!"
The words echoed around the laboratory, a scream that could have almost broken through even the sound-proof walls. It was a hopeless wail, one that hadn't yet given up completely but had counted all its odds and realised that every one of them were stacked against it.
Vlad extended a finger, placing it lightly under the boy's chin and forcing him to look up to the ceiling. Terrified, Danny made no effort to resist, in spite of the dreadful, frostbite-inducing cold of Vlad's skin.
The monster's voice was down to a menacing whisper.
"Any more out of you," it said, "and I will make you watch as the light drains out of his eyes."
With a bright pink spectral flash, the monster was gone. And Danny was left alone, helpless.